IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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I.I 


2.5 


m  1^ 


S   1^    12.0 


1.8 


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Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


r<N^ 


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f/u 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notoa/Notas  tachniquas  at  bibiiographiquaa 


Tha  Inatituta  haa  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  biblio  graphically  uniqua. 
which  may  altar  any  of  the  iniagea  in  tha 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significintiy  change 
tha  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


n 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagte 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  reataurte  et/ou  pellicula 

Cover  title  miasing/ 

La  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  mapa/ 

Cartes  gtegraphiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bieue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
ReliA  avec  d'autras  documents 


□ 


n 


n 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liura  ssrrie  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distorsion  la  long  de  la  marge  int6rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouttea 
lors  d'une  reatauration  apparaissent  dana  la  texte, 
mais.  lorsque  cela  itait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  iti  fiimtes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplimentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  la  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  iti  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peuK-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  axiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m«thoda  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquis  ci-dessous. 


D 
D 
D 

0 


\/ 


□ 
D 
D 


Coloured  pages/ 
Pagea  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagies 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
^ages  restaur«es  et/ou  pelliculAes 

Pages  discoloured   stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  dicolories.  tachat^ss  ou  piquies 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachies 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Quality  inAgala  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  mat6riel  suppl^mentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc..  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuiilet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  iti  filmies  i  nouveau  de  fapon  i 
obtenir  la  meiileure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiqu*  ci-dessous. 

JOX 14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


12X 


16X 


7 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


Th«  copy  film««J  h«r«  has  b««n  raproducad  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

Ligitlatura  du  QuAbac 
Quebec 

Tha  imagaa  appaaring  hara  w  tha  baat  quality 
poaaibia  eonaidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibiiity 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  icaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  tpacificatlona. 


Original  copiaa  in  printad  papar  covara  ara  fiimad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  iaat  paga  with  a  printad  or  iliuatratad  impraa- 
•ion,  or  tha  bacic  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  fiimad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  iliuatratad  impraa- 
sion.  and  anding  on  tha  Iaat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  iliuatratad  impraasion. 


Tha  Iaat  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  — ^(moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  y  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  appliaa. 

IMapa,  plataa,  charts,  ate,  may  ba  f  Imad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thoaa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  includad  in  ona  axpoaura  ara  fiimad 
baginning  in  tha  uppar  iaft  hand  comar.  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framaa  as 
raquirad.  Tha  following  dlagrama  liluatratA  tha 
mathod: 


L'axamplaira  filmi  fut  raproduit  grica  i  la 
g^nirosit*  da: 

Legislature  du  Qu4bee 
QuMmc 

l.aa  imagaa  suKrantaa  ont  4t«  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattat*  da  I'axamplaira  film*,  at  an 
conformity  avac  iaa  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 

Laa  axamplairaa  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  •n 
papiar  aat  ImprimAa  sont  filmte  tp  commancant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  ampraima 
d'Impraaaion  ou  dlllustration,  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  caa.  Toua  las  autraa  axamplairaa 
originaux  sont  fiimAs  an  commandant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  utn  amprainta 
d'Impraaaion  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darniira  paga  qui  comporta  una  talis 
amprainta. 

Un  daa  symboias  suh/ants  apparaftra  sur  la 
damiira  imaga  da  chaqua  microficha,  salon  la 
caa:  la  symbols  <-h»>  signifia  "A  SUIVRE",  la 
symbols  V  signifia  "FIN". 

Las  cartaa,  pla'nchaa.  tablaaux.  ate,  pauvant  *tra 
filmte  «  daa  taux  da  rMuction  diffirants. 
Lorsqua  la  documant  ast  trop  grand  pour  Atra 
raproduit  an  un  saul  ciichA,  il  ast  film«  A  partir 
da  I'angia  sup4riaur  gaucha,  da  gaucha  A  droita, 
at  da  haut  an  baa,  an  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagas  n^casnaira.  Las  diagrammas  auivants 
illustrant  la  mAthoda. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

HOLD  THE  FORT! 


A  COLLECTION  OF  FRESH  FACTS  AND  ARGUMENTS 
IN  SUPPORT  OF  THE  POLICY  OF 

Protection  to  Home  Industry. 


Published  by  The  American  Iron  and  Steel  Association,  at  No.  £65  South  Fourth 
Street,  Philadelphia,  ai  which  place  copies  of  this  tract  may  be  had  on  appli- 
cation by  letter. 


THE  PROTECTIVE  POLICY. 

Protection  is  a  principle  and  not  an  expedient.  If  it  is  right, 
the  reasons  for  believing  in  it  ancl  maintaining  it  should  be  so 
clear  and  so  conclusive  that  its  friends  will  never  be  tempted  to 
apologize  for  it,  nor  its  enemies  be  abk  to  delude  the  unthinking 
with  stories  of 'its  oppressive  burdens.  There  is  nothing  compli- 
cated, nothing  metaphysical,  nothing  hard  to  understand  in  the 
protective  policy,  and  it  should  be  discussed  with  that  simplicity 
of  statement  and  directness  of  application  which  it  so  eminently 
admits  and  so  fully  Invites.  It  is  a  plain  question  of  the  duty  of  a 
nation  to  encourage  the  industry  of  its  own  people,  in  preference  to 
the  industry  of  an  alien  people.  It  is  a  question  of  the  duty  and 
interest  of  a  nation  to  develop  all  its  resources,  rather  than  allow 


THE  PROTECTIVE   POIICY. 


le  of 


8ome  ot  the  most  important  of  them  to  remain  undeveloped.  It  is 
a  question  of  diversified  employments  and  unbounded  possibilities 
for  a  nation  capable  of  great  achievements,  rather  than  a  limitation 
of  its  powers  to  such  occupations  as  will  prevent  it  from  becoming 
independent  and  its  people  from  going  forward.  This  is  the  pro- 
tective policy.  It  is  not  the  instrument  by  which  monopolies  are 
to  be  established,  but  it  is  the  foe  of  all  monopolies,  domestic  and 
foreign,  for  it  encourages  the  widest  competition  in  productive  in- 
dustry. It  is  not  the  instrument  by  which  one  class  of  the  com- 
munity is  to  be  benefited  at  the  expense  of  another  class,  for  it  seeks 
the  common  weal  by  affording  employment  to  all  classes.  It  is  not 
a  tax  upon  one  industry  for  the  benefit  of  another  industry,  for  its 
design  is  to  impose  taxes  upon  foreign  producers  that  domestic  con- 
sumers may  obtain  cheaper  commodities,  and  this  is  its  effect.  It  is 
not  a  hindrance  to  commerce,  but  a  help  to  it,  for  it  stimulates 
internal  commerce  when  it  stimulates  the  development  of  resources 
which  could  have  no  value  if  not  exchanged  for  other  products,  and 
it  aids  foreign  commerce  when  it  enables  a  country,  through  the 
competition  and  increased  skill  of  its  people,  to  produce  commodi- 
ties so  cheaply  that  other  countries  will  be  induced  to  purchase 
them.  It  is  the  policy  of  patriotism,  of  progress,  of  civilization — a 
policy  that  defends  the  weak  against  the  strong,  and  stands  reso- 
lutely for  one's  own  against  all  assailants. 

The  protective  policy' of  the  United  States  has  always  aimed  to 
advance  the  welfare  of  its  working  people.  Protection  has  benefited 
them  because  it  has  diversified  their  employments,  increased  the 
rewards  of  their  labor,  cheapened  the  cost  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
-Stimulated  enterprise,  developed  the  national  resources,  expanded 
commerce  between  the  States  and  with  other  countries,  prevented  the 
evil  of  direct  taxation,  and  elevated  the  whole  tone  of  our  natioc 
life.  The  industrial  policy  of  Great  Britain,  whether  controlled  h;^ 
protective  or  free-trade  influences,  has  always  aimed  to  advance  the 
interests  of  her  ruling  classes,  and  has  never  sought  the  elevation  of 
her  working  people.  It  is  the  glory  of  the  United  States  that  she 
has  not  adopted  an  industrial  policy  that  would  degrade  all  labor, 
and  it  is  the  shame  of  Great  Britain  thai  her  labor  has  been  syste- 
matically degraded  that  her  aristocracy  might  prosper. — From  The 
American  Iron  Trade  in  1876. 


Among  the  most  sacred  rights  is  that  of  the  labor  of  a  country 
to  its  own  markets. — M.  Thiers. 


THERE  18  NO   INTERNATIONAL   FREE  TRADE. 


8 


THERE  18  NO  INTERNATIONAL  FREE  TRADE.    . 

The  opinion  has  been  industriously  disseminated  that  the  policy 
of  protecting  home  industries  by  means  of  duties  on  imports  of 
foreign  commodities  is  almost  exclusively  confined  to  the  United 
States.    This  is  an  error.    Protection  is  the  policy  of  many  nations; 
free  trade  the  policy  of  very  few.    Of  all  the  leading  nations  of 
the  world,  Great  Britain  is  the  only  one  which  professes  to  practice 
absolute  free  trade  in  the  exchange  of  commercial  products ;  and 
even  Great  Britain,  as  we  shall  presently  show,  does  this  only  in  a 
qualified  sense.     France,  Germany,  Austria,  Russia,  Italy,   Bel- 
gium, Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Switzerland  have  protective 
tariffs.    Even  unhappy  Spain  is  not  without  its  tariff  on  imported 
goods,  and  impoverished  Turkey  now  admits  that  to  the  absence 
of  protection  is  her  present  condition  largely  due.    The  empire  of 
Brazil,  the  leading  nation  of  South  Amerfca,  imposes  duties  on 
imports  which  average  over  forty  per  cent,  of  their  value.    All  the 
South  American  republics  impose  similar  duties.     Many  of  the 
colonies  of  Great  Britain  refuse  to  follow  the  example  of  th^ 
mother  country,  for  th^y  impose  protective  duties ;  the  colonies  of 
New  South  Wales  and  Victoria  being  especially  devoted  to  the 
protective  policy.    In  India  and  Canada  there  are  strong  parties 
favorable  to  the  development  of  home  industry  by  protective  duties, 
and  their  views  have  found  expression  in  local  legislation.     A 
careful  survey  of  the  whole  field  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
protective  policy  is  everywhere  stronger  to-day  than  it  has  been. 
Only  in  Germany  do  we  see  manifested  any  disposition  to  surrender 
it,  and  there  the  effort  to  establish  partial  free  trade  is  being  most 
strenuously  resisted. 

It  may  be  said  that,  with  the  exception  of  France,  no  other 
country  is  so  strongly  protective  as  the  United  States;  but  this 
criticism  does  not  affect  the  proposition  that  protection  is  the  rule 
and  free  trade  the  exception  among  all  leading  nations.  The 
measure  of  this  protection  each  country  must  decide  for  itself. 

To  show  conclusively  that  Great  Britain  alone  among  leading 
nations  professes  devotion  to  free  trade,  it  is  only  necessary  to  refer 
to  the  tables  of  import  duties  levied  by  the  different  European 
countries  on  foreign  products*  published  by  our  government  in  the 
Monthly  Reports  for  July,  August,  and  September,  1869,  of  the 
Deputy  Special  Commissioner  of  the  Revenue,  Mr.  Francis  A 
Walker.  It  appears  from  these  tables,  which  are  too  long  to  be 
transferred  to  these  pages,  that  every  Continental  European  country 


THERE  18   NO   INTERNATIONAL   FREE  TRADE. 


levies  an  import  duty  upon  the  manufactured  goods  and  other 
products  of  other  countries,  and  that  iron  and  steel  products  are 
especially  subjected  to  these  duties.  The  tariff  on  iron  rails  in  the 
leading  Continental  countries  of  Europe  was  as  follows  in  1869: 
France,  $11.91  per  ton  of  2,240  pounds;  Germany,  S12.19;  Austria, 
$24.38;  Kussia,  $9.74. 

If  it  be  argued  that  these  duties  are  not  levied  for  protection,  but 
for  revenue,  we  answer  that  all  or  nearly  all  of  the  duty-paying 
articles  compete  with  articles  which  are  produced  by  the  countri(}8 
which  impose  the  duties,  and  that  the  policy  of  free  trade  means 
the  free  exchange  of  commodities  between  nations.     If  neither  the 
principle  nc:  the  practice  of  free  trade  is  adopted  by  the  countries 
of  Continental  Europe,  then  they  can  not  in  any  sense  be  properly 
claimed  as  its  converts,  even  in  part.     Protection  and  revenue  are 
not  incompatible  elements  in  the  formation  of  a  customs  tariff;  but 
free  trade  and  revenue  from  customs  are  absolutely  incompatible 
when  one  country  exchanges  with  another  products  that  are  common 
to  both.    There  may  be  revenue,  but  there  is  no  free  trade.    The 
tariffs  of  Continelital  Europe  embody  the  principles  of  protection 
and  revenue  in  a  majority  of  cases  where  duties  are  levied  on  com- 
modities which  compete  with  home  productions;  but  where  these 
duties  are  so  high  as  to  preclude  the  presumption  that  they  are 
intended  to   encourage  even   moderate   imports,  the  principle  of 
protection  only  is  preserved.    France,  Russia,  and  some  of  the 
other  countries  named  in  Mr.  Walker's  tables  are  examples  of  the 
imposition  of  such  high  duties.     But  France,  which  has  been  re- 
markably consistent  in  her  devotion  to  the  protective  policy  since 
the  days  of  the  first  Napoleon,  has  gone  further  than  this— gone 
further  than  the  United  States  has  ever  gone.     France  has  posi- 
tively prohibited,  and  does  now  prohibit,  in  her  general  tariff  the 
importation  of  many  articles  which  her  own  people  can  produce. 
The  United  States  can  not  export  to  France  to-day,  upon  any  con- 
ditions whatever,  refiped  sugars,  tobacco  for  private  account,  certain 
kinds  of  cast  and  forged  iron,  cutlery,  copper  in  certain  forms,  cer- 
tain chemical  products,  common  soaps,  fine  stoneware  and  earthen- 
ware, glass  bottles,  goblets,  etc.    The  revenue  which  France  derives 
from  these  prohibitory  duties  is  not  apparent,  but  the  protection 
which  her  manufacturers  derive  from  some  of  them  is  plain.     Her 
tariff  is  eminently  a  protective  one,  as  is  her  whole  fiscal  system. 
A  bounty  to  the  exporters  of  Frencn  sugar  encourages  its  produc- 
tion by  facilitating  its  introduction  into  foreign  markets. 

But  Great  Britain  herself  is  not  the  consistent  and  zealous  devotee 


THERE   18    NO   INTERNATIONAL   FREE   TRADE. 


of  free  trade  that  she  affects  to  be.    Putting  aside  for  the  moment 
the  fact  that  she  did  not  announce  her  conversion  to  free  trade 
until  within  the  memory  of  the  present  generation,  and  until  it  suited 
the  interests  of  her  trading  classes  to  do  so,  we  proceed  to  inquire 
whether  she  now  practices  the  whole  of  the  creed  she  is  so  ready  to 
preach  to  othei-s.     We  have  before  us  an  English  reprint  of  the 
British  tariff  that  was  in  force  in  1875,  with  accompanying  state- 
ments, and  from  this  publication  we  learn  that  the  government  of 
Great  Britain  derived  an  income  of  £20,637,855  (about  $100,000,000) 
as  revenue  from  customs  in  the  fiscal  year  1873-4.     Examining  the 
items  of  which  this  aggregate  is  composed,  we  learn  that  the  duty 
on  tobacco  realized  £7,399,074  r  on  tea,  £3.251,203;  on  brandy, 
£2,248,546;  on  wine,  £1,793,112;  and  on  dried  fruits,  £457,513. 
Many  other  articles  paid  duty  in  that  year,  including  beer,  coffee, 
rum,  whisky,  pickles,  vinegar,  gold  and  silver  plate,  and  a  long  list 
of  suoh  chemical  products  as  alcohol,  chloroform,  and  varnish.     In 
the  nine  years  from  1866  to  1874  the  income  of  the  British  govern- 
ment from  customs  amounted  to  £193,658,436  (about  $968,000,000). 
The  receipts  of  the  United  States  from  customs  during  the  same  nine 
years  amounted  to  $1,668,349,914.     Thus  Great  Britain,  nominally 
a  free-trade  country,  derived  from  duties  on  customs  in  nine  years 
an  income  equal  to  fifty-eight  per  cent,  of  that  derived  from  the  same 
source  by  the  United  States,  a  country  which  has  a  confessedly  pro- 
tective tariff. 

The  commodities  from  which  Great  Britain  derives  the  large 
customs  revenue  to  which  we  have  alluded  are  the  products  of 
fortign  countries,  and  the  duties  imposed  are  a  tax  upon  the  indus- 
tries of  those  countries  for  the  benefit  of  the  British  treasury.     Thus, 
China  is  made  to  pay  a  tax  upon  her  tea  sold  to  the  British  Islands  | 
Brazil  upon  her  coffee ;  Germany  upon  her  beer  and  spirits ;  the 
South  of  Europe  upon  its  currants,  raisins,  and  figs;  and  the  United 
States  upon  her  tobacco  and  distilled  grain,  her  alcohol,  etc.     These 
taxes  are  a  restriction  upon  the  free  exchange  of  commodities,  and 
their  existence  confutes  most  completely  the  pretense  that  Great 
Britain  is  a  free-trade  country.    This  pretense  appears  all  the  more 
daring  when  it  is   considered  that  the  British  government  and 
British  manufacturers  demand  of  the  countries  we  have  named, 
and  of  other  countries,  that  the  products  of  British  industry  shall  not 
be  subjected  to  the  payment  of  any  tax  whatever  when  they  enter 
foreign  ports  and  foreign  markets.     China  is  taxed  upon  her  tea,  but 
China  must  not  tax  English  cottons ;  Brazil  is  taxed  upon  her  coffee, 
but  Brazil  must  not  tax  English  iron  and  steel ;  the  South  of  Europe 


6 


THE   FARMERS   AND   PROTECTION. 


is  taxed  upon  its  fniits,  but  the  South  of  Europe  must  not  tax  Eng- 
lish machinery  and  cutlery ;  the  United  States  is  taxed  upon  her 
tobacco,  whisky,  alcohol,  varnish,  etc.,  but  the  United  States  must 
not  tax  English  hardware,  salt,  woolen  goods,  linen,  etc.  All  the 
world  must  be  taxed  to  support  the  British  government,  but  all  the 
world  must  maintain  its  own  police  regulations  and  pay  its  debts 
as  best  it  can.  It  is  all  right,  for  instance,  for  the  tobacco-growers 
of  the  United  States  to  be  taxed  to  help  pay  the  interest  on  the 
British  national  debt ;  but  it  is  all  wrong  for  British  manufacturers, 
when  they  enter  our  markets,  to  be  taxed  to  help  pay  the  interest  on 

our  debt. 

British  theoretical  free  trade  means  the  free  exchange  of  com- 
modities between  nations.    It  nowhere  exists  :  it  is  a  myth.     The 
only  real  free  trade  known  to  civilized  nations  is  that  which  governs 
the  exchanges  between  the  people  of  the  same  country.     It  is  the 
only  kind  of  free  trade  that,  in  the  nature  of  things,  ever  can  exist ; 
for  each  nation  must  care  for  its  own  interests,  and  these  interests 
are  never  identical  with  the  interests  of  other  nations.     Between  the 
different  sections  of  the  United  States,  for  instance,  all  trade  is 
absolutely  free ;  while  all  the  sections  are  alike  protected  against 
foreign  industrial  assailants,  come  they  in  what  guise  they  may. 
Great  Britain  imposes  duties  upon  those  commodities  entering  her 
ports  which  it  suits  her  to  tax,  and  upon  those  which  it  suits  her  to 
admit  free  of  duty  she  imposes  no  duty.    Yet  she  asks  other  nations 
not  to  impose  duties  upon  such  of  her  products  as  seek  their 
markets.    This  is  not  free  trade,  nor  the  shadow  of  it.    It  is  not 
fair  trade.     It  is  the  policy  that  gives  a  glass  bead  in  exchange  for 
a  nugget  of  gold,  or  an  iron  hoop  for  a  handful  of  precious  gems.— 
From  The  American  Iron  Trade  in  1876. 


THE  FARMERS  AND  PROTECTION. 

We  would  not  ignore  the  fact  that  the  farmer's  home  market  is 
always  his  best  market ;  but,  as  he  annually  relies  upon  foreign 
markets  to  take  a  portion  of  his  surplus  crops,  he  should  know 
that  protection  opposes  no  obstacles  to  his  wishes.  It  should  be 
remembered,  too,  that  the  wheat  and  corn  and  other  farm  products 
which  are  sold  at  home  or  shipped  abroad  have  cost  the  farmer  less 
labor  in  their  production  and  transportation  during  the  last  fifteen 
years  of  protection  than  in  preceding  years,  for  he  has  had  the  use 
of  improved  machinery  and  of  a  wide-reaching  railway  system, 
both  of  which  have  been  largely  created  by  the  protective  policy. 


OUR   PR08PEKOU8   FARMERS. 


Protection  stimulates  labor-saving  inventions,  and,  by  building  up 
manufactures  and  developing  the  resources  of  the  country,  it 
encourages  the  construction  of  railways,  and  cheapens  (he  cost  of 
railway  material,  and  consequently  of  railway  transportation.  Not 
only  is  less  labor  required  to  px'oduce  and  market  a  given  crop  in 
late  years  than  was  formerly  required,  but  the  money  cost  of  produ- 
cing and  marketing  that  crop  is  reduced  by  the  use  of  improved 
machinery  and  by  the  extension  of  railway  facilities,  so  that  the 
ability  of  the  American  farmer  to  compete  iu  foreign  markets  with 
foreign  farmers  is  greatly  increased.  And  this  is  the  real  secret  of 
the  increased  exportation  of  American  breadstufTs  and  provisions  in 
late  years. 

It  is  frequently  alleged  that  foreign  countries  will  not  buy  our 
agricultural  products  if  we  do  not  buy  their  manufactured  goods. 
But  this  is  a  serious  mistake,  as  has  been  amply  demonstrated  by 
experience.  To  illustrate :  In  the  fiscal  year  1872  we  imported 
iron  and  steel  and  manufactures  thereof  aggregating  $56,540,188 
in  value,  and  we  exported  26,423,080  bushels  of  wheat,  valued  at 
038,915,060,  or  81.47  per  bushel.  In  the  fiscal  year  1874  we  im- 
ported iron  and  steel  and  manufactures  thereof  aggregating  $33,- 
793,546  in  value,  and  we  exported  71,039,928  bushels  of  wheat, 
valued  at  0101,421,459,  or  01.42  per  bushel.  In  1872  the  value 
of  our  imports  of  iron  and  steel  was  almost  seventeen  millions  of 
dollars  in  excess  of  the  value  of  our  exports  of  wheat ;  whereas,  in 
1874  the  value  of  our  exports  of  wheat  more  than  trebled  the  value 
of  our  imports  of  iron  and  steel.  The  reader  will  see  at  a  glance 
that  our  agricultural  exports  do  not  depend  at  all  upon  our  willing- 
ness to  take  foreign  manufactures  in  exchange  for  them.  Foreign 
countries  will  buy  our  breadstuff's  and  provisions  because  they  must 
have  them  or  because  they  are  cheap.  When  the  harvest  is  good  In 
England,  for  instance,  our  exports  of  food  products  to  that  country 
will  always  decrease ;  when  the  harvest  is  poor,  will  England,  in  her 
extremity,  higgle  about  the  quantity  of  iron  and  steel  we  are  willing 
to  take  from  her  ?  She  never  has  done  this. — From  The  American 
Iron  Trade  in  1876. 


OUR  PROSPEROUS  FARMERS. 


Under  this  caption  the  Chicago  Inter-  Ocean,  an  ever- vigilant  and 
sagacious  guardian  of  the  interests  of  Western  farmers,  publishes 
some  statistics  to  show  that  the  West  has  been  fairly  prosperous 


8 


OUR   PROflPKROUH   FARMERS. 


notwithsUuKling  the  panic,  and  that  this  prosperity  has  been  due 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  farmers.     It  says: 

Taken  as  a  class,  our  farmers  have  been  favored,  during  the  last 
three  years,  with  an  extraordinary  demand  for  their  breadstufls  and 
provisions,  for  which  they  have  received  steadily  remunerative 
prices.  It  has  been  a  matter  of  common  comment  that  while  the 
values  of  manufactures,  of  real  estate,  and,  indeed,  of  nearly  all 
kinds  of  fixed  investments,  have  been  progressively  declining,  the 
values  of  staple  articles  of  food,  and  even  of  vegetables,  have  been 
well  sustained.  The  purchasing  power  of  farm  products,  as 
measured  in  other  articles,  has  never  been  so  great  as  now,  within 
the  memory  of  the  oldest  inhabitant.  An  unprecedented  foreign 
demand  for  our  agricultural  staples,  in  recent  years,  by  withdraw- 
ing the  superabui:  dance  of  our  domestic  market,  has  prevented  a 
glut,  maintained  good  prices,  and  kept  our  farmers  prosperous, 
despite  the  derangement  and  depression,  almost  amounting  to 
paralysis,  in  many  other  branches  of  industry. 

The  writer  proceeds  to  adduce  Government  statistics  to  show  how 
fully  the  above  statements  are  sustained  by  the  facts.  The  exports 
of  wheat,  since  June  30,  1869,  have  been  as  follows,  a  calculation 
of  average  price  per  bushel  each  year  and  for  the  whole  period 
being  added : 


Years  ending  June  30. 


1870.. 
1871.. 
1872., 
1873.. 
1874., 
1875. 
1876. 


Bushels. 


86,584,115 
34,304,000 
26,423,080 
39,204,28.5 
71,039,928 
53,047,177 
66,073,122 


Total 

Average., 


816,676,013 


45,096,639 


Values. 

847,171,229 
45,143,424 
88,915,060 
61,452,254 

101,421,459 
59,007,863 
68,382,889 


Average  price 
per  bushel. 


$412,094,178 


858,870,597 


$1.28.939 
1.31.505 
1.47.277 
1.31.241 
1.42.767 
1.12.368 
1.24.167 


$1.30.648 


These  are  significant  totals,  even  standing  alone,  but  a  compara- 
tive view  will  place  them  in  a  still  more  signal  light.  An  annual 
statement  in  detail  of  our  foreig.i  trade  was  first  ordered  by  Congress 
to  begin  'September  1,  1820.  From  that  date  to  July  1,  1870,  em- 
bracing forty-nine  fiscal  years,  our  aggregate  exports  of  American 
wheat  footed  up  254,573,057  bushels,  valued  at  $342,233,361.  In 
other  words,  within  the  last  seven  years,  or  during  just  one-seventh 
of  the  previous  period,  we  exported  61,103,556  bushels  more,  and 
069,860,817  more  in  value.  Exports  of  wheat  flour  for  the  same 
term  offer  an  exhibit  of  similar  significance : 


-- 


OUR  PROflPEROUS   FARMERS. 


Yean  ending  June  80. 


Btrrtla. 


8,463,Ra» 
8,60a,H41 

4,(HI4,094 
8,97!J,IM 
S,93a,Sl'i 


'i4,lM,029 


3,4fi6,047 


Valuu. 


Aventee  prio* 
per  barrel. 


•3t,l09,A93 
24,0U8,I84 
17,9Sn,eHI 
19,.'l«l,604 
29,2«H,0M 
23,712,  i4U 
24,408,470 

tl«0,004,12» 

922,807,798 


t6. 11.249 
6.09.893 
7.14.076 
7.06.4«O 
7.14.641 
0.U6.H20 
6.20.H40 


M.81.M0 


Here,  as  before,  we  see  the  totals  of  both  quantity  and  value 
augmenting  since  the  panic.  These  are  evidences  of  thrift,  not  of 
industrial  depression,  throughout  the  agricultural  community. 
From  August  31, 1820,  to  June  30, 1870 — about  forty-nine  years — 
the  aggregate  exports  of  wheat  flour  were  93,674,714  barrels,  valued 
at  $590,456,860.  Thus,  within  seven  years,  we  exported  25.83  per 
cent,  of  the  quantity,  and  27.1  per  cent,  of  the  value,  of  the  aggre- 
gate exported  during  the  previous  period  seven  times  as  long. 

Next,  if  we  reduce  barrels  of  flour  to  equivalent  bushels  of  w^.jat, 
at  the  standard  rate  of  five  bushels  to  the  barrel,  we  shall  have  a 
sum  total  of  722,946,627  bushels  for  the  forty-nine  years,  as  the 
aggregate  of  wheat  flour  and  of  wheat  combined  exported  for  that 
term,  and,  in  like  manner,  436,669,258  bushels  for  the  last  seven 
years.  According  to  these  figures  we  exported,  within  the  short 
period,  60.4  per  cent,  of  the  entire  quantity,  and  61,84  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  value,  exported  within  the  long  period.  It  is  plain, 
moreover,  that  higher  export  prices,  on  an  average,  were  realized 
in  the  seven  than  in  the  forty-nine  years. 

Now  let  us  take  up  the  exports  of  corn,  as  follows : 


Years  ending  June  80. 


1870 

1871 

1872 

1873 

1874 

1875 

1876 

* 

Total .... 
Average 


Bushels. 


1,392,115 
9,826,309 
84,491,660 
38,541,930 
34,434,606 
28,858,420 
49,498,572 


187,038,602 


28,148,3/2 


Values. 


$1,287,575 

$0.92.490 

7,458,997 

.75.908 

23,984,365 

.69.537 

23,794,694 

.61.737 

24,769,961 

.71.933 

24,456,937 

.84.748 

33,265,280 

.67.211 

8139,017,799 


$19,859,686 


Average  price 
per  bushel. 


$0.70.564 


Again  we  see  a  rapid  gain,  notwithstanding  the  panic.  Even  a 
monetary  revulsion  seems  to  have  been  unable  to  visit  any  of  its 
crushing  or  prostrating  effects  upon  the  farming  community  as  a 
class.     If  we  repeat  the  comparison  previously  made,  we  shall  find 


10  SOME  OF   THE   EFjj'ECTS  OF   PKOTECTION   ON  PRICES. 


that  the  exports  of  corn,  for  the  forty-nine  years  specified,  were 
208,821,522  bushels,  valued  at  1^157,867,469.  It  thus  appears  that 
during  that  long  period  we  exported  only  11,782,920  bushels  more 
t  lan  we  did  dining  the  last  seven  years,  but  with  total  value  greater 

by  $18,849,670.  . 

The  Inter- Ocean  claims,  and  with  great  truth,  that  the  continued 
prosperity  of  Western  farmers  is  owing  to  the  policy  of  protection 
to  home  industry.  That  policy  gridironed  the  North  with  railroads, 
and  multiplied  lines  in  the  South  ;  cheapened  the  cost  of  crop  cul- 
ture by  stimulating  the  inventive  genius  that  has  supplied  such 
varied  additions  of  labor-saving  machinery  for  agriculture;  reduced 
the  expense  of  transportation  by  diminishing  the  outlay  for  railway 
tracks  and  rolling  stock,  and  by  increasing  competition  for  freights ; 
and  prospered  our  farmers  by  thus  enabling  them  to  undersell 
Ruasia  in  the  foreign  grain  markets. 

SOrJE  OF  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION  ON  PRICES 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  following  memorial  to  Congress,  signed  by  more  than  ninety 
officers  and  managers  of  leading  railroads  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
was  presented  in  1870 : 

Immediatelj'^  before  the  construction  of  the  first  steel-rail  manufactory  in 
this  country,  *)re:gn  ir  akers  charged  $150  per  ton  (equal  then  to  $225 
currency)  for  steel  rails.  As  American  v/orks  were  built,  foreign  skilled 
labor  introduced,  home  ip.bor  instructed,  and  domestic  irons,  clays,  ganister, 
and  Spiegel  (after  many  and  expensive  trials)  found  to  produce  excellent  rails, 
tb.e  price  of  the  foreign  article  wae  gradually  lowered,  until  it  now  stands  at 
less  than  $79  per  ton  in  gold,  or  f  06.38  currency.  Now  that  several  millions 
of  dollars  have  been  expended  in  machinery,  furnaces,  and  experiments  in 
perfecting  the  process  of  manufacture  in  this  country,  and  numbers  of  our  own 
citizens  are  dependent  upon  it  for  support,  th^  buoinest  is  threatened  with 
annihilation  by  the  pressure  of  English  and  Prussian  makers.  We,  as  users 
of  steel  rails,  and  transporters  of  the  food  and  material  for  American  manu- 
facturers and  the>r  numerous  employes  and  skilled  laborers,  do  not  desire  to 
be  dependent  exclusively  upon  the  foreign  supply,  and  therefore  join  in  asking 
that,  incteod  of  the  present  nd  valorem  duty,  a  specific  duty  of  two  cents  per 
pound  be  placed  upon  this  article. 

The  duty  was  fixed  at  $28  per  ton,  gold,  and  to-day  Bessemer 
steel  rails  of  best  quality  can  be  bought  at  American  mills  it  055 
currency.  Domestic  competition,  induced  by  protective  duties,  has 
given  to  American  railways  cheaper  steel  rails  than  English  manu- 
facturers, '.vithcut  this  competition,  would  ever  have  given  them. 


SOME  OP  THE   EFFECTS   OF  PROTECTION   ON    PRICES.  11 


For  more  than  a  yenr  foreign  steel  rails  have  almost  ceased  to  come 
into  this  country,  yet  in  that  time  American  rails'  have  fallen  in 
price  $20  a  ton,  solely  as  the  result  of  home  competition. 

The  manufacture  of  cut  nails  is  an  American  invention,  origina- 
ting near  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.    When  it  was  first 
undertaken  in  this  country,  wrought  nails,  which  then  cost  25  cents 
a  pound,  were  largely  imported ;  hence  the  necessity  for  protection 
to  the  new  industry.     By  the  tariff  act  of  1824  the  duty  on  all  nails 
was  made  5  cents  per  pound,  at  which  it  remained  until  1833,  since 
which  year  it  has  been  reduced.    Prices  of  cut  nails  have  ranged 
as  follows  during  the  past  fifty  years :  In  1828  the  price  was  7  to 
8  cents  per  pound;  in  1829  it  fell  to  6  and  7  cents  fin  1830  to  6 
and  6  cents;  in  1833  to  4  and  6  cents;  from  1835  to  1840  the  price 
was  from  5  to  7  cents,  falling  in  1840  to  5  and  6  cents;  in  1842  the 
price  fell  to  8  and  U  cencs;  in  1844  and  1846  it  was  4  and  5  cents; 
in  1855  it  again  fell  to  3  cents ;  in  1861  it  was  3  cents.    Like  all 
other  products,  the  price  advanced  during  the  era  of  war  prices,  but 
before  the  panic  of  1873  it  had  again  fallen  to  3  cents,  and  on  the 
1st  of  January,  1876,  the  price  was  2i  cents.     It  will  be  noted  that, 
in  1830,  six  years  after  the  duty  was  made  5  cents  per  pound,  the 
price  was  the  3ame  as  the  duty ;  that,  in  1833,  the  price  fell  below 
the  duty;  that,  in  1842,  it  was  2  cents  per  pound  below  the  duty; 
and  that,  on  the  1st  of  last  January,  it  was  just  one-half  the  duty 
of  1824,  and  about  one-fourth  the  price  charged  for  cut  nails  when 
that  duty  was  imposed.     Political  economists  who   receive  their 
inspiration  from  our  industrial  adversaries  sometimes  allege  that 
the  duty  is  always  added  to  the  price.    The  history  of  the  manu- 
facture of  cut  nails  is  an  illustration  of  the  fallacy  of  their  theory. 
Protection  and  home  competition  brought  down  the  price  of  cut 
nails  far  below  the  duty,  &ne.  drove  out  of  our  markets  the  English 
wrought  nails  with  which  they  had  for  many  years  to  compete,  and 
which  in  1828  cost  from  10  to  17  cents  a  pound.     For  a  long  time 
we  have  exported  nails  to  foreign  countries,  the  value  of  the  exports 
of  nails  and  spikes  in  the  fiscal  year  1875  amounting  to  half  a 
million  of  dollars. 

The  history  of  a  celebrated  American  manufactory  of  saws 
presents  r  striking  example  of  the  cheapening  effects  of  protective 
duties.  Prior  to  the  Revolution,  and  for  many  years  after  its 
close,  saws  were  not  made  here.  All  our  saws  came  from  abroad, 
and  we  paid  for  them  just  what  foreigners  were  pleased  to  charge  us. 
In  1840  an  American  mechanic,  Henry  Disston,  commenced  the 
manufacture  of  saws  in  Philadelphia  in  a  small  way.    At  that  time 


12 


SOME  OP  THE  EFFECTS  OF  PROTECTION  ON   PRICES. 


English  saws,  with  the  name  of  the  maker  marked  upon  them,  sold 
in  our  markets'at  prices  ranging  from  $15.75  to  $19  a  dozen.    Mr. 
Disston  was  obliged  to  sell  his  saws  for  less  money,  as  his  goods  were 
unknown,  while  the  English  saws  had  a  reputation;  but  after  the 
Disston  saw  became  known  and  its  reputation  was  established  the 
English  saws  were  gradually  driven  out  of  our  markets  and  prices 
were  still  further  reduced  to  consumers.    In  1876  Henry  Disston  & 
Sons  are  sending  saws  to  England,  warranted  equal  to  the  best  saws 
made  in  that  country,  and  selling  them  at  $10.50  a  dozen,  fully 
fifty  per  cent,  less  than  the  price  Englishmen  charged  us  in  1840. 
When  Mr.  Disston  commenced  business,  inferior  saws  of  foreign 
manufacture  were  sold  m  this  country  at  $4.50  a  dozen,  and  he 
could  not  make  saws  for  less  than  $7  a  dozen,  but  now  Henry  Diss- 
ton &  Sons  ship  common  saws  to  South  America  at  $4.50.    The 
exports  of  their  goods  in  1875  amounted  to  fully  $100,000.    But 
for  protection,  Henry  Disston  and  his  sons  never  would  have  been 
in  a  position  to  compete  successfully  in  this  country  with  foreign 
makers  of  saws;  they  never  would  have  been  able  to  find  a  market 
in  other  lands  in  one  year  for  $100,000  worth  of  their  products; 
this  country  never  would  have  had  as  cheap  saws  as  are  now 
supplied  to  it;  and  all  the  benefits  resulting  from  the  employment 
of  the  labor  of  the  country  in  the  manufacture  of  saws  never 
would  have  had  an  existence.    The  Messrs.  Disston  make  their 

own  steel. 

Before  axes  were  made  in  this  country,  except  by  country  black- 
smiths, English  axes  cost  our  farmers  and  others  from  $2  to  $4 
each.    By  the  tariff  of  1828  a  protective  duty  of  35  per  cent,  was 
levied  upon  imported  axes.    Under  this  protection  the  Collins 
Company,  of  Hartford,  introduced  labor-saving  machinery,  much  of 
which  was  invented,  patented,  and  constructed  by  themselves.     In 
1836  foreign  and  home-iiade  axes  were  selling  side  by  side,  in  the 
American  market,  at  $15  to  $16  per  dozen,  at  Which  time  foreign 
producers  withdrew  their  competition,  abandoning  the  entire  market 
to  American  manufacturers.    Then  home  rivalry  and  improved 
methods  continued  the  decline  in  prices.     Axes  were  selling,  in 
1838,  at  $13  to  $15.25  per  dozen;  in  1840,  at  $13  to  $14;  in  1843, 
at  $11  to  $12;  in  1845,  at  $10.50  to  $11 ;  in  1849,  at  $8  to  $10. 
In  1876  the  price  of  the  best  American  axes  in  the  market  is  $9.50 
per  dozen  in  currency,  and  the  country  exports  large  quantities  to 
foreign  markets.     English  wi'iters  admit  the  superior  cxcclLnee  of 
American  axes.    The  Collins  Company  makes  its  own  steel,  and  a 
letter  from  the  company  now  before  us  claims  that  it  is  "  better 


SOME  OP  THE  EFFECTS  OF    PROTEC3TION  ON   PRICES. 


13 


than  any  English  steel  we  can  buy,  and  we  have  been  steel  con- 
sumers for  fifty  years.  We  now  only  make  for  our  own  consump- 
tion, and  we  have  no  disposition  to  cheat  ourselves." 

We  are  aware  that  it  is  claimed  by  the  advocates  of  the  policy  of 
British  trade  domination  that  low  prices  in  protective  periods  are 
not  produced  by  protection — that  they  are  due  to  other  causes.  It 
is  to  be  remarked  that  this  plea  is  made  by  the  very  same  persons 
who  constantly  insist  that  prices  are  always  increased  under  protec- 
tion— that  the  duty  is  always  added  to  the  price,  and  that  the 
consumer  pays  the  duty.  The  two  theories  are  not  harmonious,  but 
conflicting,  and  may  be  permitted  to  destroy  each  other.  If  prices 
are  uniformly  cheapened  under  protection,  there  must  be  a  cause 
for  it,  and  if  that  cause  is  not  protection,  who  has  shown  that  it  is/ 
anything  else  ?  If  prices  are  not  cheapened  under  that  policy,  but 
increased,  then  the  prices  of  Collins's  axes,  Disston's  saws,  cut  nails, 
and  Bessemer  rails  should  have  advanced  after  protection  had  en- 
couraged the  investment  of  capital  which  made  their  manufacture 
possible.  But  did  they?  Did  the  purchaser  of  cut  nails  at  three 
cents  a  pound  pay  a  duty  of  five  cents  a  pound  in  addition  to  a  fair 
price  for  the  nails  ?  Does  the  purchaser  of  American  steel  rails  at 
$55  a  ton  pay  a  higher  price  for  them  than  when  the  English  rail- 
maker  had  entire  control  of  our  market  ?  The  duty  on  steel  rails  is 
now  $28  a  ton,  equal  to  $32  currency.  If  this  duty  were  wholly 
repealed,  is  it  within  the  bounds  of  probability  that  English  rail- 
makers  would  supply  our  railroads  with  steel  rails  at  $23  a  ton  in 
currency?  The  duty  on  silks  averages  fifty  per  cent,  of  their  foreign 
value.  Instead  of  the  price  of  silk  goods  having  been  increased  by 
the  amount  of  the  duty,  it  is  a  fact  that  they  never  were  so  cheap  in 
this  country  as  they  are  to-day,  and  that  their  use  was  never  so 
general  as  now. 

It  is  clearly  the  tendency  of  protection  to  decrease  prices,  and  of 
the  denial  of  protection  to  increase  them,  as  has  been  shown.  But 
if  protection  did  not  affect  prices  either  way,  exercising  no  influence 
upon  them  whatever,  it  is  certainly  true  of  it  that  it  fosters  the  de- 
velopment of  the  national  resources,  and  thus  provides  employment 
for  our  own  people.  It  supplies  a  market  for  the  skilled  labor  of 
our  countrymen  and  a  market  for  the  farmer's  produce.  It  gives 
the  home  market  to  the  home  producer,  preferring  to  foster  his  in- 
dustry rather  than  that  of  the  foreign  producer.     In  accomplishing 

tliPflA   nnfrir^tio   nrttl    monlir  'niirno'«>°    ■n»»r»fon+i/-wr>    larrvAlTr   o/l/la   •*•/-»   fV»/i 

national  wealth  and  increases  the  prosperity  of  all  classes  and  their 
ability  to  buy  at  any  price. — From  The  American  Iron  Trade  in  1876. 


14 


PROTECTION   INCREASES   OUR   EXPORTS. 


HOW  PROTECTION  TENDS  TO  INCREASE  OUR  EX- 
PORTS  OF  MANUFACTURED  GOODS. 

The  first  effect  of  protection  is  to  give  diversified  employment  to 
our  people  at  good  wages,  and  thus  the  first  essential  condition 
necessary  to  the  production   of  manufactured  goods,  either  for 
home  or  foreign  consumption,  is  secured.     Being  thus  employed, 
the  influence  of  the  common  school  and  of  republican  institutions 
produces  intelligent  workmen ;  the  prospect  of  some  day  becoming 
employers  of  others  produces  ambitious  workmen ;  and  all  these  in- 
fluences combined  afford  a  constant  incentive  to  achieve  the  best 
possible  mechanical  results.     The  American  mechanic  is  always 
striving  how  to  better  his  condition :  the  European  mechanic,  denied 
the  compensation  and  the  opportunities  of  his  Transatlantic  brother, 
is  always  considering  how  he  can  keep  his  position.    He  makes  but 
little  effort  to  improve  his  mechanical  methods.     If  we  now  add  the 
spirit  of  competition  between  employers  which  protection  always  ex- 
cites, and  which  high  wages  always  compel,  we  have  all  the  elements 
necessary  to  foster  the  naturally  inventive  genius  of  our  people, 
from  which  come  labor-saving  machinery,  improvements  in  old 
methods,  novel  designs,  a  simplification  of  means  to  ends,  and  excel- 
lence of  finish.     Labor-saving  mnchinery  cheapens  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction and  usually  improves  the  character  of  the  product :  joined 
to  the  other  mechanical  accomplishments  mentioned,  both  cheapness 
and  excellence  are  certainly  secured.    Possession  of  the  home  market 
is  the  first  result  of  these  achievements,  and  afterwards  the  foreign 
market  is  entered  in  competition  with  the  products  of  mere  hand 
labor  and  antiquated  machinery — this  hand  labor  and  antiquated 
machin  ;ry  being  direct  consequences  of  low  wages  and  a  low  state 
of  society.     Thus  do  many  of  our  manufactured  products  find  a 
market  abroad.    The  London  Times  a  few  years  ago  comprehen- 
sively stated  in  the  following  words  the  philosophy  of  the  increase 
in  this  class  of  American  exports : 

The  Americans  succeed  in  supplanting  us  by  novelty  of  construction  and 
excellency  of  make.  They  do  not  attempt  to  undersell  us  in  the  mere  matter  of 
price.  Our  goods  may  still  be  the  cheapest,  but  they  are  no  longer  the  best, 
and  in  the  country  where  an  axe,  for  instance,  is  an  indispensable  instrument, 
the  best  article  is  the  cheapest,  whatever  it  may  cost.  Settlers  and  emigrants 
30on  find  this  out,  and  they  have  found  it  out  to  the  prejudice  of  Birmingham 
.  trade. 

The  American  wants  the  best  of  everything;  the  European  is 
content  with  old  styles,  coarse  materials,  and  often  mith  mere 


>  t 


PROTECTION  INCREASES  OUR  EXPORTS, 


15 


cheapness  without  regard  to  quality.  The  American  mechanic, 
alike  with  the  American  merchant  and  professional  man,  will  not 
weAr  wooden  shoes  or  coarse  brogans,  because  he  can  afford  good 
leather  shoes ;  he  will  not  wear  corduroy  pantaloons  or  check  shirts, 
because  he  can  afford  to  wear  pantaloons  made  of  good  woolen  cloth 
and  white  muslin  or  linen  shirts ;  he  will  not  wear  a  coat  made  of 
shoddy,  or  use  a^tool  that  will  not  "  carry  an  edge  "  or  perform  its 
work  well.  He  is  above  all  these  expedients  and  inventions  of  a 
lower  industrial  plane  than  that  upon  which  he  moves.  He  will 
not  use  these  things,  and  he  does  not  make  them.  American  manu- 
factured products  sent  abroad  are  therefore  all  that  they  are  repre- 
sented to  be,  and  they  are  represented  to  be  the  best  that  can  be 
made.  The  people  of  China  and  Japan,  South  America,  and  other 
countries  have  been  so  often  deceived  by  British  manufacturers, 
who  have  studied  cheapness  rather  than  excellence,  especially  in 
manufacturing  for  foreign  markets,  that  American  goods  have 
grown  in  their  favor  because  they  are  honestly  made  and  are  of 
superior  quality. 

But  if  we  can  export  certain  manufactured  products,  such  as 
hardware,  machinery,  leather,  etc.,  in  competition  with  all  other 
countries,  why  protect  these  articles  by  high  duties  ?    We  answer : 
Why  kill  the  goose  that  lays  the  golden  egg?    If  protection  has 
wrought  results  so  beneficial  to  our  country,  why  abandon  it  in  the 
case  stated  ?    But  there  is  a  better  reason  for  maintaining  the  pro- 
tective policy  without  yielding  so  much  of  it  as  a  hair's  breadth. 
The  assaults  of  free  trade  are  always  concealed  and  treacherous.     If 
one  or  two  or  half  a  dozen  industries  be  surrendered  to  its  sophis- 
tries, even  although  for  the  time  they  could  retain  their  vigor,  an 
attack  upon  the  whole  line  of  protected  industries  would  be  cer- 
tain to  follow.    With  the  Trojan  horse  once  inside  the  gates,  the 
whole  city  would  be  taken.    With  industries  -destroyed  which  could 
only  exist  with  protection;  with  closed  factories  and  workshops 
standing  as  monuments  of  national  folly;  with  the  country  robbed 
of  its  general  prosperity  and  the  home  market  largely  curtailed, 
how  could  those  other  industries,  which  protection  has  benefited  the 
most,  long  remain  prosperous?    The  home  market  is  the  most 
valuable  of  all  markets,  and  no  industry,  be  it  ever  so  favored,  can 
afford  to  lose  it.    Furthermore:  protection  for  even  our  most  firmly 
established  industries  •     Meded  to  prevent  the  possible  unloading 
upon  our  markets  of  the  surplus  products  of  other  countries. 
England,  for  instance,  manufactures  many  articles  which  she  sells 
largely  to  her  colonies  and  to  other  non-manufacturing  countries  at 


16 


THE  "good  old  times." 


profitable  prices ;  but  a  surplus  of  theee  articles  may  be  left  on  her 
hands,  which,  rather  than  not  sell  at  all,  she  can  well  afford  to  sell 
to  the  people  of  this  country,  if  permitted,  at  less  than  their  actual 
cost.  Protection  against  such  competition  as  this  is  wise  and  neces- 
sary. No  man  in  business — no  workingman  at  his  bench  or  anvil — 
should  be  subjected  to  the  risk  of  such  an  assault  upon  his  capital 
or  labor. — From  The  A%  \erican  Iron  Trade  in  1876, 


T 


t 


II 


THE  "GOOD  OLD  TIMES"  WHEN  THERE  WERE  NO 

MANUFACTURES. 

Before  manufactures  were  fairly  established  in  this  country,  suj)- 
plying  a  home  demand  for  agricultural  products  and  surplus  agri- 
cultural labor,  and  furnishing  manufactu::ed  goods  at  low  prices, 
the  condition  of  American  farmers  and  of  all  other  laborers  was  one 
of  great  hardship  and  many  privations.  The  following  bit  of  per- 
sonal history  m  the  life  of  A.  H.  Wrenn,  of  Mount  Gilead,  Ohio, 
shows  some  of  the  results  which  followed  a  general  dependence  on 
foreign  workshops  less  than  fitly  years  ago,  in  a  section  of  the 
country  where  domestic  manufactures  had  not  been  established. 

In  1829  my  father's  family  emigrated  from  Alexandria,  Virginia,  and 
settled  near  Salem,  Columbiana  county,  Ohio.  A  large  portion  of  the 
inhabitants  were  thrifty,  hospitable  Quakers.  Let  us  take  a  vievr  of  the  prices 
of  articles  in  those  days.  The  farmer  would  sell,  when  he  could,  wheat  at  31 
cents ;  corn  and  rye,  15  to  20  cents ;  potatoes  and  cats,  10  cents  per  bushel ; 
apples  and  peaches  he  would  give  away ;  eggs,  3  cents  per  dozen ;  butter,  5 
cents  per  pound ;  pork  and  beef,  2  cents  per  pound ;  hay,  $3  to  $4  per  ton ; 
cows,  $8  to  $10;  oxen,  per  yoke,  $30  to  $50;  good  horses,  $30  to  $50;  sheep 
averaged  about  $1 ;  wool,  20  to  25  cents  per  pound.  The  above  were  the 
usual  prices  for  several  years,  except  when  the  scarcity  of  some  article  caused 
higher  prices.  Farm  and  other  laboring  hands  $7  to  $10  per  month  and 
board ;  in  harvest  a  little  higher.  The  writer  cut  many  an  acre  of  wheat 
at  25  cents ;  cut  and  split  rails  at  40  cents  per  hundred ;  cut  wood  ai  20  to  25 
cente  per  cord.  If  any  of  us  youngsters  happened  to  be  qualified  to  teach 
school  in  the  little  log-cabins,  and  put  in  our  full  time,  we  thought  we  w^ere 
doing  well  to  get  $12  per  month ;  mechanics  of  different  kinds  got  50  cents  to 
$1  per  day.  We  had  generally  to  be  on  hand  before  sunrise.  Money  was  a 
very  scarce  article  in  tho&e  days. 

Let  us  look  at  what  we  had  to  pay  for  articles  bought  from  the  merchants. 
Tea,  and  that  not  the  best,  $2  to  $2.50  per  pound.  The  writer  once  took  three 
bushels  of  wheat  and  traded  it  for  a  half-pound  of  not  very  good  tea=  Coffee, 
35  to  50  cents ;  pepper  and  spice,  60  cents ;  satinets,  at  all  suitable  for  a  decent 
suit  of  clothes,  from  $2  to  $3  per  yard ;  and  those  that  could  afford  the  luxury 


»   • 


T 


SOME  OP  THE   JIDVANTAQES   OP  MANUFACTURES. 


17 


■f 


t 


of  broadcloth  paid  from  $5  to  $8  per  yard  for  none  of  the  best ;  salt,  $5  per 
barrel ;  shirting,  25  to  40  cents ;  calico,  30  to  45  cents ;  all  dresq  goods  in  the 
same  ratio. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  at  Great 
Falls,  New  Hampshire,  February  21, 1872,  by  Henry  Wilson,  after- 
wards Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 

The  first  month  I  worked  after  I  was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  I  went  into 
the  woods,  drove  team,  cut  mill-logs,  wood,  rose  in  the  morning  before. day- 
light and  worked  hard  until  after  dark  at  night,  and  I  received  for  it  the 
magnificent  sum  of  six  dollars.  Each  of  those  dollars  looked  as  large  to  me 
as  the  moon  looked  to-night. 

On  the  farm  on  which  I  served  an  apprenticeship  I  have  seen  the  best  men 
who  ever  put  scythe  in  grass  working  for  from  fifty  cents  to  four  shillings  a 
day  in  the  longest  days  of  summer.  Yesterday  I  visited  that  farm,  i  asked 
the  men  who  were  there  what  they  paid  men  in  haying-time  last  summer,  and 
they  said  from  two  dollars  to  two  and  a  half  a  day.  This  was  paid  on  the 
same  ground  where,  men  worked  forty  years  ago  for  from  fifty  cents  to  four 
shillings,  and  took  their  pay  in  farm  products,  not  money.  I  have  seen  some 
of  thg  brightest  women  go  into  the  farm-houses  and  work  for  from  fifty  cents 
to  four  shillings  a  week,  milking  the  cows,  making  butter  and  cheese,  washing, 
spinning,  and  weaving — doing  all  kinds  of  hard  work.  I  was  told  yesterday 
that  many  young  women  were  earning  in  the  shops  a  dollar  a  day,  and  that 
those  who  worked  in  houses  were  getting  from  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  week 
to  three  dollars  and  a  half. — From  The  American  Iron  Trade  in  1876. 


SOME    OF    THE    ADVANTAGES    WHICH    MANUFAC- 
TURES BRING  TO  A  TOWN. 

1.  A  considerable  permanent  addition  is  at  once  made  to  the  pop- 
ulation, in  the  shape  of  many  skilled  workmen,  who  prove  auxiliary 
to  every  other  kind  of  business  carried  on  in  the  neighborhood. 

2.  The  values  of  real  estate  are  enhanced  by  the  erection  of  large 
buildings  in  which  to  carry  on  the  processes  of  the  manufacture, 
and  by  the  appropriation  of  larger  areas  to  accommodate  the 
dwellings  built  for  the  employes. 

3.  The  sudden  increase  of  numbers  involves  a  correspondingly 
larger  consumption  of  articles  of  necessity,  comfort,  and  taste,  on 
the  spot,  and  thus  enlarges  the  sphere  and  intensifies  the  activity  of 
the  various  classes  of  business  previously  carried  on,  besides  opening 
a  demand  for  several  new  kinds  which  are  generally  attracted  to  a 
community  by  any  considerable  increase  of  inhabitants. 

4.  The  wages  earned  by  the  factory  hands  are  spent  on  the  spot, 


18 


THE  BBGENF.KATION  OP  THE  SOUTH. 


and  help  to  8i:t;.gi7,c  every  material  interest  of  the  town,  making 
money  plentier,  trade  brisker,  prices  cheaper,  sales  larger,  commodi- 
ties more  various,  and  improvement  more  ambitious. 

5  The  tax-paying  power  of  the  community  is  much  augmented, 
leading  to  a  bettered  condition  of  roads,  bridges,  streets,  pavements, 
public  buildings,  and  the  like. 

6.  There  being  many  more  children  and  many  more  grown  peo- 
ple, a  demand  springs  up  for  better  school  accommodations  and  for 
larger  churches,  bringing  not  only  a  higher  grade  of  talent  in  each 
department  of  human  needs,  but  a  decided  advance  in  architectural 

excellence. 

7.  So  many  more  letters  are  written  and  so  many  more  news- 
papers and  magazines  are  received,  that  an  increase  of  mail  facilities 
soon  follows  as  an  inevitable  consequence. 

8.  One  factory  having  been  established,  it  becomes  easier  to 
attract  to  the  place   other  manufacturing  enterprises  which  are 

auxiliary  to  the  first. 

9.  So  far  as  the  people  are  consumers  of  the  articles  consumed  in 
the  factory,  they  become  direct  purchasers  from  the  manufacturers, 
thus  dispensing  altogether  with  the  profits  extorted  by  middlemen, 
and  making  a  gain  by  greater  cheapness  of  price  paid  for  the 
articles,  such  always  being  the  result  of  placing  producer  and  con- 
sumer side  by  side. 

10.  Farmers  in  the  neighborhood  are  benefited  by  securing  an 
improved  local  market  for  the  sale  of  their  produce ;  and  sometimes, 
as  in  the  case  of  a  woolen,  flax,  or  paper  mill  established,  are  able 
to  sell  their  wool  direct  to  the  manufacturer,  or  to  obtain  a  round 
price  per  ton  for  the  straw  which  they  formerly  burned  as  a  useless 
incumbrance,  worth  to  them  only  as  ashes  for  manure.— C^tmgro 
Inter-  Ocean. 

THE  REGENERATION  OF  THE  SOUTH. 


The  building  up  of  the  South  is  to  be  accomplished  only  by  the 
use  of  many  instrumentalities,  of  some  of  which  it  would  not 
become  us  to  speak.  But  there  is  one  which  we  may  properly 
mention,  for  it  relates  to  the  material  prosperity  of  the  South,  with 
which  the  making  of  iron  is  closely  identified.  We  refer  to  domestic 
manufactures.  The  South  may  educate  its  children,  secure  rest  from 
political  strife,  become  a  promised  land  to  the  sturdy  immigrant, 
receive  additions  to  its  banking  capital,  and  be  greatiy  benefited  by 


THE   BEGBNEBATION   OP   THE  SOUTH. 


19 


all  of  these,  yet  it  will  not  attain  the  degree  of  prosperity  to 
which  it  is  adapted  and  which  the  remainder  of  the  Union  has  long 
enjoyed  until  it  becomes  the  home  of  manufacturing  enterprise — 
becomes  more  industrially  independent  than  it  now  is. 

The  great  progress  that  has  been  made  by  some  of  the  States  of 
the  South  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  is  an  example  of  what  the 
South  is  capable,  and  of  the  benefits  which  she  may  derive  from  a 
diversification  of  her  pursuits.  All  of  the  iron  establishments  of  the 
South  give  employment  to  many  thousands  of  miners,  ironworkers, 
and  other  workingiaen,  and  their  products  contribute  to  the  supply 
of  the  home  demand  for  iron,  thus  keeping  the  money  of  the  people 
circulating  vX  home  instead  of  sending  it  abroad.  They  do  more 
than  this.  They  bring  money  into  the  South  to  pay  for  iron  products 
which  other  communities  must  have.  Tennessee  iron  is  sold  in  all 
the  markets  of  the  West ;  Alabama  iron  is  used  to  make  car-wheels 
in  Philadelphia,  and  Alabama  iron  ore  is  sold  to  Indiana  furnaces. 
The  Vulcan  Ironworks  of  Richmond  ship  largely  of  their  products 
to  Cuba  and  South  America,  and  make  fish-bar  bolts  for  the  North- 
western, Canada  Southern,  New  York  and  Erie,  Midland,  Chicago, 
Alton  and  St,  Louis,  and  other  railways.  The  famous  Tredegar 
Ironworks  of  the  same  city  have  found  a  new  field  for  their  enter- 
prise in  constructing  engines  and  vacuum-pans  for  the  sugar  planta- 
tions of  Cuba,  and  railroad  cars  for  Cuban  railroads. 

What  the  South  has  done  in  iron  it  should  do  in  other  industrial 
directions.     If  it  would  manufacture  one-third  or  even  one-fourth 
of  the  cotton  which  grows  in  its  fields ;  if  it  would  make  its  own 
boots  and  shoes ;  if  it  would  manufacture  its  own  agricultural  im- 
plements, such  as  axes,  hoes,  plows,  reapers,  and  mowers;  if  it  would 
make  its  own  stoves,  nails,  horse-shoes,  steam  engines,  gas  pipe,  and 
water  pipe;  and,  generally,  if  it  would  produce  more  and  buy  less,, 
the  day  of  it««  complete  regeneration  would  be  close  at  hand.    An 
influential  Southern  journal,  the  Rnral  Svn,  of  Nashville,  in  an 
article  declaring  that  manufactures  are  wanted  as  "  an  aid  to  farm- 
ing," shows  at  how  low  an  ebb  manufactures  are  in  the  compara- 
tively progressive  State  of  Tennessee.    It  states,  among  other  facts, 
that,  in  1870,  "of  the  agricultural  implements  used  in  the  State^ 
valued  at  $8,199,487,  not  one-tenth  were  manufactured  by  our  own 
mechanics.    Of  the  2,500  reapers  used  in  the  State,  not  one  wa» 
manufactured  here,  and  a  very  small  percentage,  probably  not  over 
one  per  cent.,  of  the  150,000  plows  and  hoes,  200,000  axes,  40,000 
mattocks,  etc.    Not  a  single  trace  chain,  of  the  250,000  used,  is  made 
in  the  State,  and  but  few  horse  collars."     The  editor  of  a  Georgia 


20 


THE  BEQENERATION  OF  THE  SOUTH. 


paper  recently  stated  the  situation  in  his  State  in  these  words: 
"  A  Georgia  tarmer  uses  a  Northern  axe-helve  and  axe  to  cut  up 
the  hickory  growing  within  sight  of  his  door,  plows  his  fields  with  a 
Northern  plow,  chops  out  his  cotton  with  a  New  England  hoe,  gins 
his  cotton  upon  a  Boston  gin,  hoops  It  with  Pennsylvania  iron,  hauls 
it  to  market  in  a  Connecticut  wagon,  while  the  little  grain  that  he 
raises  is  cut  and  prepared  for  sale  with  Yankee  implements.  We 
find  the  Georgia  housewife  cooking  with  an  Albany  stove,  and  even 
the  food,  especially  the  luxuries,  is  imported  from  the  North. 
Georgia's  fair  daughters  are  clothed  in  Yankee  muslins,  and  decked 
in  Massachusetts  ribbons  and  Rhode  Island  jewelry."  The  people 
who  are  so  dependent  upon  others  as  the  Tenneaseeans  and  Georgians 
are  here  declared  to  be  can  never  become  prosperous.  How  much 
better  would  it  be  for  every  Southern  city  if  it  would  adopt  the 
policy  of  Louisville,  a  sister  Southern  city,  which,  on  the  31st  of 
August,  1874,  had  in  successful  operation  more  than  600  manufac- 
turing establishments,  representing  an  investment  of  $20,000,000, 
producing  wares  annually  estimated  at  056,000,000,  employing  con- 
stantly 10,000  persons,  and  paying  out  annually  for  labor  about 
$8,000,000? 

At  Columbus,  Georgia,  the  manufacture  of  cotton  is  successfully 
and  profitably  prosecuted.  There  are  several  mills,  running  about 
40,000  spindles,  and  the  Boston  C<mmeretal  Bulletin  significantly 
says  of  them,  in  its  issue  of  November  28,  1874,  that  "there  is 
nothing  visionary  about  the  handsome  dividends  that  the  mills  of 
Georgia,  even  in  these  trying  times,  are  paying  to  their  stock- 
holders." At  Atlanta,  Georg'",  an  eflfort  is  being  made  to  establish 
a  cotton  factory,  and  in  referring  to  it  the  Daily  News  of  that  city, 
for  November  26,  1874,  makes  the  following  argument  in  favor  of 
the  policy  of  building  cotton  factories  everywhere  throughout  the 
cotton  belt: 


" 


When  cotton  is  shipped  to  Boston  to  be  manuftictured,  there  is  the  freight 
of  transporting  the  raw  material  to  be  paid.  After  the  staple  is  made  up  into 
manufactured  goods,  then,  before  Georgians  can  use  it,  it  must  of  course  be 
freighted  back  to  the  merchants.  Here  is  a  second  expense.  The  manufac- 
turer does  not  pay  it  all.  His  price  is  raised  suJBSciently  high  to  save  him. 
The  Southern  merchant  does  not  even  pay  it  all,  for  he  prices  his  goods  high 
enough  to  cover  all  unavoidable  expenditures.  Now,  who  does  actually  have 
to  pay  for  all  this  shipping,  freighting,  etc.?  Why,  the  old  farmer  himself, 
and  nobody  else.  He  finds  that  he  has  spent  all  the  money  he  reah?ed  from 
the  sale  of  his  raw  cotton  in  the  fall  to  buy  it  back  in  the  spring  in  the  shape 
of  cloth. 


THE  REOEMEBATION  OF  THE  HOUTH. 


21 


The  News  proceeds  to  ahow  the  saving  in  freight  and  commissions 
which  would  result  to  the  Southern  farmer  were  he  able  to  secure 
his  supply  of  cotton  goods  from  a  factory  established  in  his  own 
neighborhood,  and  then  adds : 

So  }u8t  Hee  what  a  broad  difference !  But  thin  i»  not  all  yet.  Every  fac- 
tory etjtablished  thus  forms  a  little  community  within  itself.  The  members  of 
this  community  are,  moreover,  made  able,  by  the  wages  paid  them,  to  become 
consumers,  and  just  see  what  an  enormous  sum  they  expend  for  all  kinds  of 
country  produce  alone.  Here  again  the  planter  is  materially  benefited.  Sir 
John  Byles,  Sir  Edward  Sullivan,  and  Mr.  Carey  have,  in  their  valuable 
works,  demonstrated  the  fact  that  a  home  market  is  worth  more  than  a  foreign 
one.  Mr.  Adam  Smith  was  the  great  apostle  of  the  English  free  traders,  and 
yet  even  he  concedes  this  point,  and  is  perhaps  more  explicit  thereupon  than 
many  othePs  who  are  open  advocates  of  a  protective  system.  So,  if  all  this 
be  true,  why  should  not  the  South  become  a  great  manufacturing  country  ? 
She  has  the  water-power ;  she  can  obtain  steam-power ;  and,  above  all,  she  has 
the  pure  staple  growing  in  wasteful  abundance  on  her  fertile  plains. 

The  Rural  Sun,  of  Nashville,  already  quoted  above,  in  its  issue 
for  November  26,  1874,  makes  an  equally  sensible  appeal  in  behalf 
of  diversified  home  industry  for  Tennessee,  especially  for  Tennessee 
farmers.     It  says : 

Tennessee,  and  the  Southwest  generally,  must  have  greater  diversity  of 
production,  if  we  would  conquer  the  hard  times.  In  no  State  of  this  Union 
are  there  better  opportunities  to  diversify  our  productions  than  in  this  noble 
State  of  Tennessee.  This  diversity  is  one  of  the  principal  benefits  which 
immigration  will  bring  us.  Is  it  not  strange  that,  in  a  State  so  well  adapted 
by  its  diversity  of  soil  and  climate,  we  are  still  dependent  upon  other  States 
for  many  farm  products  that  we  could  produce  not  only  as  well  as  but  better 
and  cheaper  than  those  who  supply  us?  Amidst  ail  the  cry  of  hard  times, 
it  is  positively  painful  to  take  a  walk  round  amongst  our  commission  houses 
here  in  Nashville  (and  it  is  the  same  in  every  Southern  city),  and  find 
Northern  apples  already  in  the  market.  Northern  potatoes,  Northern  hay,  , 
Northern  grass  seed,  Northern  butter  and  cheese,  and  reflect  what  a  drain 
upon  our  currency  is  constantly  going  on.  Is  it  any  wonder  we  are  poor? 
It  is  bad  enough  that  we  import  nearly  all  our  manufactured  goods,  which 
with  proper  energy  and  combination  we  could  produce  at  home,  but  surely  in 
a  State  like  ours  we  ought  to  produce  our  own  food. 

The  South  needs  many  things,  but  she  needs  greatly  to  encourage 
home  manufactures  and  next  to  them  a  diversified  agriculture. 
Through  these  combined  influences  she  can  prosper  abundantly: 
without  manufactures  she  will  stand  still  indefinitely.— JProm  the 
Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  The  American  Irm  and  Steel 
Association  for  1874- 


THE   RESULTS  OP   PROTKCTION. 


The   Results  or  Protection.— The  revolt  of  our  ancestors 
against  Great  Britain  a  century  ago  having  been  ';au«ed  in  part  by 
their  determination  not  to  submit  to  free-trade  plunder  and  the 
suppression  of  their  infant  manufactures,  and  the  policy  of  this 
country  having  been  ever  since  protective  of  our  manufacturers  the 
general  result  of  our  hundred  years  of  independence  is  fairly  to  be 
brought  into  court  to  testify  whether  degradation  or  advancement 
18  the  fruit  of  such  a  policy.     Let  those  who  prate  of  the  prosperity 
arising  from  free  trade  produce  a  free-trade  country  showing  attain- 
ments comparable  to  ours,  or  hold  their  peace  for  shame.    That  our 
progress  might  have  been  yet  greater  is  most  true,  for  our  policy 
has  vacillated  in  the  degree  of  protection  established  at  different 
periods,  and  in  a  similar  degree  has  our  growth  been  accelerated  or 
retarded,  as  has  been  sufficiently  demonstrated  by  Henry  C.  Carey 
The  depressed  condition  of  many  of  our  industries  at  this  moment 
under  a  sufficiently  high  tariff  does  not  invalidate  this  argument 
since  the  depression  is  world-wide  and  is  quite  as  marked  in  free-' 
trade  England  as  in  protected  America,  having  in  fact  produced 
more  distress  and  bankruptcies  there  than  here.—Joaeph  Wharton 


V 


i 


A  correspondent  of  the  Chicago  Inter- Ocean,  writing  from 
Princeton,  Illinois,  compares  the  prices  of  1860  with  those  of  1876 
as  follows:  "I  sold  dressed  pork  for  $2.49  per  hundred:  now  in  these 
hard  times  it  is  more  than  double  on  foot.    Then  corn  was  15  to  20 
cents:  now  26  to  40.     Wheat  60,  now  90;  and  everything  else  in 
proportion.     Then  carpenters  got  $1.25  to  $1.50  per  day   now 
double.     Bricklayers  $2.00  now  to  $1.50  then."    The  Inter- Ocean 
remarks  that  its  correspondent  might  have  added  that  farmers  and 
mechanics  get  their  pay  now  in  money  that  will  keep,  and  not  in 
red-dog,  wild-cat,  and  other  kinds  of  currency  that  used  often  to 
break  before  the  recipient  reached  home.     We  have  often  expressed 
the  opinion  that  hard  as  are  the  times  now  in  this*  country,  thev 
have  more  than  once  been  much  harder— particularly  in  the  f  ee- 
trade  periods  of  1837  to  1842  and  1857  to  1860. 


Mi^ 


Question  for  F;',K3^-Tn^DERs.-If  the  duty  is  always  added 
to  the  price,  and  if  tl.e  <  .^hsxim^x  pays  the  duty,  why  is  it  that  the 

foreign  manufacture.^    u  fi  t^-    imTicti""  T«/.r'-u«„*  —  -i_ 

-         *-  ^  "  -    " —   xiii^i,- j,..,g^   ixi:r\.tiau.i,  »ic  always  so 

solicitous  to  have  the  duty  removed  ? 


tmmitKsemgmrm 


THE   PEUJL   OF  FREE-TRADE   ENOLAND. 


23 


ri 


THE  PERIL  OF  FREE-TRADE  ENGLAND.-ENGLI8H 
TRIBUTES  TO  OUR  PROTECTIVE  POLICY. 

The  lesson  which  our  Interntitional  Exhibition  has  taught  to  free- 
trade  England,  namely,  that  protection  has  built  up  formidable 
rivals  to  her  industrial  supremacy,  our  own  nation  being  the  princi- 
pal rival,  is  being  reely  commented  on  in  English  journals.  We 
publish  below  liberal  extracts  from  several  letters  to  the  London 
Times,  most  of  which  express  well-grounded  alarm  at  the  rapid 
growth  of  American  manufactures,  which  they  rightly  attribute  to 
the  protective  policy.  We  take  the  liberty  to  italicize  several  sen-, 
ttjnces  in  all  of  these  letters  which  possess  especial  significance, 
some  of  which  should  bring  the  blush  of  shame  to  the  cheeks  of 
American  free-traders : 

Sir:— I  am  glad  to  see  that  the  danger  to  our  manufacturers 
from  the  competition  of  our  American  rivals  is  receiving  some  dis- 
cussion in  your  columns.  No  subject  of  more  vital  interest  can 
engage  the  attention  of  mercantile  men.  I  have  had  opportunity 
during  a  good  many  years  to  watch  the  progress  of  American 
manufactures,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  America  is  soon  to  become  by 
very  much  the  most  formidable  competitor  we  have  ever  known.  It 
is  probable  that  the  Philadelphia  Exhibition  will  haaten  this  con- 
summation, and  will  be  found  hereafter  to  mark  the  opening  of  a 
njw  era  for  both  English  and  American  manufacturers.     *      * 

The  Americans  have  lately  made  surprising  progress  in  the  per-  ' 
fecting  of  their  manufactures.  There  is  still  among  them  a  love  of 
foreign  goods,  but  it  consists  with  my  observation  that  that  prefer- 
ence weakens  year  by  year  as  American  products  improve.  All 
well-to-do  men  are  still  clothed  in  foreign  woolens,  the  dye  of  which 
is  reputedly  more  reliable  than  that  of  the  native  article.  Ladies 
still  assert,  truly,  that  American  silks  want  the  lustre  and  attrac- 
tiveness of  European.  Rich  men  still  cover  their  flocrs  with 
carpets  woven  in  England  or  on  the  Continent.  But  the  American 
manufacturers  will  never  rest  till  their  cloths  compare  favorably  vdth 
those  of  Europe;  and  during  the  present  year  there  have  been 
started  in  New  York  silk  and  carpet  factories,  the  products  of 
which  threaten  to  supplant  even  the  finest  grades  of  foreign  goods 
in  the  favor  of  consumers.  The  European  producer  holds  the 
American  market  by  a  tenure  which  grows  every  year  more  precarious. 
Competition  has  compelled  attention  to  the  reduction  of  cost,  and 
the  results  gained  are  highly  important.     As  one  illustration  of 


24 


THE   PERIL   OF   FREE-TRADE   ENGLAND. 


what  has  beou  done — perhaps  as  yet  rather  an  extreme  one — I 
may  mention  an  article  which  some  years  ago  cost  the  manufacturer 
80c.  per  yard,  and  now  costs  him  only  40.  The  same  article  im- 
ported from  England  costs  45c.,  without  duty.  The  necessity  of 
reduced  cost  by  increased  skill  and  economy  is  now  thoroughly 
appreciated  by  the  American  manufacturers.        *         * 

America  is  year  by  year  depending  less  upon  foreign  countries  for 
the  goods  which  her  people  consupie.  Her  protective  policy  has 
been  costly  beyond  all  calculation,  but  it  has  made  her  a  great 
manufacturing  nation,  soon  to  be  independent  of  foreign  supplies ; 
and  not  merely  that.  With  a  producing  power  largely  in  excess  of 
her  own  requirements,  with  abundant  capital,  (jxperience,  and 
energy,  with  an  ample  supply  of  labor,  disciplined  and  intelligent, 
wioh  legislative  disabilities  soon  to  be  removed,  and  the  cost  of 
production  reduced  to  the  lowest  point,  America  enters  the  arena 
as  a  competitor  of  England  in  all  the  foreign  markets  of  which 
England  has  hitherto  enjoyed  a  virtual  monopoly.  America  has 
already  ceased  to  take  our  iron.  She  will  gradually  cease  to  take 
our  cottons,  our  carpets,  our  woolen  cloths,  our  silks;  and  in  a  few 
years  more  we  must  be  prepared  to  encounter  in  all  the  marts  of 
our  foreign  commerce  the  irons,  the  cottons,  the  woolens,  the  silks 
of  our  enterprising  kinsmen. 

Let  not  English  manufacturers  delude  themselves  by  a  supine 
trust  in  the  traditional  supremacy  of  English  manufacture.  Beyond 
the  Atlantic  are  a  people  with  energy  and  skill  equal  to  ours ;  with 
every  advantage  which  we  possess,  and  with  no  disadvantage 
excepting  such  as  legislation  has  created  and  will  shortly  remove; 
above  all,  with  a  passionate  eagerness  for  improvement,  which  con- 
trasts ominously  with  our  conservative  disposition  to  tread  in  the 
steps  of  our  fathers.  These  are  our  competitors  in  the  future.  I 
look,  not  unhopefully,  on  the  prospects  of  English  industry ;  but  we 
shall  incur  great  sorrows  if  we  remain  blind  to  the  fact  that  we  are 
about  to  entei'  the  era  of  a  competition  keener  and  more  formidable 
than  it  has  ever  before  been  our  misfortune  to  encounter. 

Your  obedient  servant, 
August  28th.  A  Manufacturer. 


Sir  : — After  spending  more  than  three  months  at  the  Philadelphia 
Exhibition  I  return  home  more  deeply  impressed  than  ever  with 
the  change  that  has  occurred  in  the  prospects  of  England  as  a  manu- 
facturing country.     I  have  attended   all  the  great  international 


THE   PERIL   OF   FREE-TRADE   ENGLAND. 


25 


exhibitions  since  1851,  and  have  seen  with  concern  the  gradual  loss 
of  position  which  England  has  suffered,  until  now  she  finds  herself 
closely  chai.enged  in  every  department  of  industry,  and  in  some 
according  to  the  judgment  of  experts,  she  holds  the  first  place  no 
longer,  or  holds  it  doubtfully. 

I  perfectly  agree  with  the  writer  of  the  letter  which  appeared  in 
the  Times  of  the  31st  ult.,  over  the  signature  of  "A  Manufacturer  " 
that  the  Americans  are  on  the  point  of  becoming  our  most  dangerous 
rivals,^  and  I  indorse  every  statement  that  he  makes  in  support  of 
this  view.     I  have  watched  closely  during  the  last  few  years  their 
rapid  progress  as  a  manufacturing  people.     Their  spirit  and  enter- 
prise are  boundless.     They  have  imported  the  very  newest  and  best 
machinery  of  England,  Belgium,  Germany,  and  France;  they  have 
tempted  away,  through  agents  sent  over  for  the  purpose,  skilled  work- 
men from  each  of  these  countries,  giving  preference,  however,  to  those  of 
Ji.ngland ;  and  they  are  rapidly  training  an  army  of  skilled  workmen 
for  themselves.     I  can  say,  from  rfiy  own  knowledge  as  a  practical 
man  and  from  the  statements  of  friends  upon  whom  I  can  rely  that 
in  the  departments  of  iron,  wool,  cotton,  and  a  certain  class  of  silk 
they  can  produce  work  which,  in  quality,  is  fully  equal  to  our  own. 
ihat  the  cost  of  production  is  greater  than  with  us  is  very  little  to 
the  point.     That  is  a  difficulty  that  will  right  itself     Th/great 
matter  for  us  to  note  is  that  they  can  produce  the  article  required 
We  may  depend  upon  it  the  rest  will  follow  in  due  time.     Out  of 
their  present  commercial  chaos  order  will  surely  come,  and,  I  fesr  in  a 
form  for  which  we  are  quite  unprepared.     I  marvel  that  so  few  of 
our  leading  manufacturers  have  as  yet  been  over  to  Philadelphia 
and  I  can  not  too  strongly  urge  those  who  are  interested  in  the 
oranches  of  industry  just  named  to  go  and  judge  whether  the  alarm 
that  is  at  last  being  sounded  is  a  false  one.    No  descriptions,  however 
graphic,  no  reports,  official  or  otherwise,  ought  to  be  allowed  to  stand 
lu  place  of  a  personal  inspection.     Nor  is  America,  the  only  country 
to  be  thus  critically  observed.     France,  Belgium,  and  Germany  are 
od  rivals,  and  have  long  been  formidable;  but  countries  hitherto 
almost  unthought  of  as  manufacturing  centres  are  now  taking  a 
very  respectable  position,  and  are  producing  work  which   if  not 
equal  to  our  own,  is,  at  any  rate,  of  sufficient  excellence  to  shut  out 
our  goods  from  these  markets.     There  are  the  woolens  and  porcelain 
as  well  as  the  wrought  iron  of  Sweden;  the  hosiery,  cotton,  and 
woolens  of  Spain;  the  silks  of  Russia,  the  machinery  and  woolens 
of  Canada,  and  the  porcelain  and  metal  work  of  Japan   all  of 
which  are  admirable,  and  make  a  formidable  list  of  addenda  to  our 


26 


THE  PERIL  OF  FREE-TRADE  ENGLAND. 


catalogue  of  difficulties.  Only  a  very  small  number  of  English 
manufacturers  visited  the  exhibition  at  Vienna,  and  the  mistake  is 
being  repeated  at  Philadelphia.  It  will  be  a  serious  misfortune  it 
the  two  months  which  still  remain  are  not  better  improved,  ihe 
situation  is  so  new  and  strange  that  nothing  but  a  personal  inspec- 
tion of  what  the  world  is  producing  will  convince  our  manufacturers 
of  the  true  state  of  the  case,  and  brace  them  up  to  make  the  extra- 
ordinary efforts  which  have  now  become  necessary  if  we  are  to  retain 
the  position  which  still  remains  to  us.     I  am,  sir,  etc., 

Liverpool,  Sept.  1, 1876.  A  Practical  Man. 


Sir  —I  have  read  the  letters  of  "  A  Manufacturer "  and  "  A 
Practical  Man,"  in  your  columns,  with  a  feeling  of  amusement  at 
the  feverish  alarm  which  the  prospect  of  American  competition  has 
produced  in  their  minds.     1,  too,  am  a  textile  manufacturer  and  a 
practical  man,  employing  a  population  of  some  thousands,  working 
with  my  own  capital  only,  and  managing  my  business  m  person. 
I  have  declined  to  send  any  samples  of  my  productions  to  Phila- 
delphTa,  as  I  am  not  disposed  to  give  American  manufacturers  the 
opportunity  of  a  full  inspection  and  comparison  of  them  so  long  as 
their  government  thinks  proper  to  handicap  me  by  import  duties  ot 
fifty  to  sixty  per  cent.     Under  these  circumstances,  I  also  consider 
it  would  be  a  perfect  waste  of  my  time  to  go  to  the  Philadelphia  1.x- 
hibition,  as  I  find  it  all  little  enough  to  devote  to  the  daily  study  of 
the  changing  requirements  of  my  home  and  foreign  customers,  ot 
the  fluctuations  of  prices,  the  constant  perfecting  of  my  machinery 
and  working  organization,  and,  most  important  of  all,  the  health, 
education,  and  industrial  training  of  my  workpeople.     As  regards 
quality  of  goods,  I  can  only  say  that  mine  are  at  least  honest  and 
unvarnished,  and  I  will  take  care  to  keep  them  so.     For  many 
years  past  the  home  trade  and  several  foreign  markets  have  con- 
tinually required  better  and  more  sterling  fabrics,  while  the  raer- 
chants  who  trade  to  high-tariflf  markets,  the  American  especially, 
Juive  been  as  regularly  asking  for  some  skillfully-contrived  detenora- 
Hon  of  qualUies  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  their  podtion  under  high 
protective  duties.    I  find  French  competition  severe;  of  American 
I  have  not  the  slightest  fear  as  regards  any  future  which  affects 
living  generations.    If  we  are  ever  beaten,  it  will  be  only  m  con- 
sequence of  the  undue  shortening  of  our  hours  oj  labor  and  the 


THE   PERIL   OF   FREE-TRADE   ENGLAND. 


27 


deterioration  of  our  working  population  through  excessive  drinking. 
On  these  points  I  confess  I  am  ^nxious ;  but  they  are  beyond  my 
control,  except  in  so  far  as  my  personal  influence  and  the  main- 
tenance of  a  strict,  but  kindly,  discipline  in  the  works  may  affect  the 
latter,  and  I  fear  that  is,  after  all,  very  little. 

I  therefore  feel,  doubtless  with  many  others,  that  the  only  wise 
course,  both  at  present  and  in  view  of  any  competition  we  may  be 
called  to  meet  at  a  future  day,  is  to  do  my  own  part  calmly  and 
diligently,  troubling  myself  as  little  as  possible  with  matters  beyond 
my  control.  It  may,  however,  be  well  to  direct  public  attention  to 
the  impolicy  of  an  undue  shortening  of  the  hours  of  labor  by  legis- 
lative enactment,  which  directly  enhances  the  cost  of  production  in 
this  country,  and  to  the  important  question  whether  our  government 
has  doiit  in  past  years,  or  is  at  present  doing,  all  in  its  power  to  keep 
in  hand  and  to  increase  its  influence  with  our  own  colonies  and 
foreign  states  to  prevent  their  adoption  or  maintenance  of  heavy  pro- 
tective duties  on  our  manufactures.    I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

September  4.  Deira. 


The  self-complacent  letter  of  "Deira"  induced  "A  Practical 
Man  "  to  write  the  editor  of  The  Times  a  second  letter,  under  date 
of  September  8,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken  : — 

Sir  : — May  I  be  allowed  a  few  words  in  reply  to  the  various  com- 
ments which  have  been  made  on  my  letter  of  1st  inst  ?  I  am  not 
maintaining  a  thesis  or  entering  into  questions  of  political  economy. 
I  am  only  pointing  out  as  emphatically  as  I  can  the  fact  that  other 
nations,  and  notably  the  United  States,  are  progressing  more  rapidly 
than  ourselves  in  certain  branches  of  manufacture.  *  *  * 
I  still  hold  that,  although  at  present  the  cost  of  production  in 
America  is  greater  than  with  us,  yet  that  this  is  only  a  temporary 
difficulty.  Manufacturers  have  proved  that  they  can  produce  the 
article  required  by  the  market,  and  they  are  now  bending  all  their 
efforts  to  the  reduction  of  cost.  I  can  specify  a  class  of  English 
goods  which  have  latterly  been  wholly  superseded  in  the  United 
States  market  by  goods  of  native,  or,  as  they  have  it,  of  "domestic" 
manufacture,  and  to  the  excellence  of  which  I  have  had  to  bear 
unwilling  testimony.  I  could  mention  another  class  which  is 
evidently  oomed  to  the  same  fate,  as  they  can  be  produced  on  the 
other  side  of  the  water  at  a  reduction  of  thirty-five  per  cent,  as 


28 


THE   PERIL   OF   FREE-TRADE   ENGLAND. 


compared  with  twelve  months  ago,  and  are  now  fractionally  above 
English  rates.  *  *  *  j  j^ave  had  the  advantage  of 
several  years'  residence  in  the  country  and  speak  advisedly,  and 
I  must  therefore  protest  against  having  my  statements  pooh-pooh'd 
by  stay-at-home  correspondents,  one  of  whom  says  that  he  has  "not 
the  slightest  fear  of  competition,"  and  considers  that  it  would  be  "a 
perfect  waste  of  time"  to  go  to  Philadelphia.  If  "Deira"  chooses 
to  wear  rose-colored  spectacles,  well  and  good ;  but  he  must  allow 
other  people  the  use  of  their  own  eyesight.  Ignoring  a  difficulty  is 
not  surmounting  it,  and  it  is  just  this  impassiveness,  this  self- 
complacency  of  the  English  manufacturer,  which  is  the  worst  symp- 
tom of  the  whole  case.  A  Practical  Man.  . 


Sir  : — The  question  of  English  manufactures  and  foreign  compe- 
tition is  continually  presenting  itself;  it  comes  to  the  front  again 
and  again.  There  is  doubtless  considerable  uneasiness  about  it; 
some  element  not  quite  understood ;  some  difficulty  in  explaining 
the  position,  or  why  should  it  be  everlastingly  occupying  people's 
attention?  Your  two  correspondents,  "  A  Manufacturer "  and  "A 
Practical  Man,"  as  well  as  your  leading  article  on  Mc^day,  prove 
the  existence  of  something  wrong.  English  commerce  is  not  run- 
ning smooth,  trade  and  finance  are  both  out  of  joint,  and  there  is 
no  sign  of  improvement. 

I  trust  you  will  permit  me  to  show  how  seriously  the  commercial 
policy  of  our  modern  statesmen  is  influencing  the  general  trade 
of  the  country.  It  is  now  universally  acknowledged  that  there 
is  very  great  depression  in  all  the  staple  trades  of  the  country — 
indeed,  every  day's  experience  is  confirmatory  of  this  sad  fact. 
The  circumstance  of  cash  being  only  worth  one  per  cent,  is  a 
proof  that  trade  is  not  what  it  ought  to  be.  Many  reasons  are 
given  for  this  state  of  things ;  but  I  hold  that  your  correspondent, 
"A  Practical  Man,"  in  your  impression  of  Saturday  last,  indirectly 
explains  the  position;  although  he  only  refers  to  American  compe- 
tition, he  might  pay  a  visit  to  the  South  Kensington  collection,  and 
he  would  see  the  excellence  of  the  workmanship  of  other  countries 
as  well.  The  point  I  wish  to  direct  serious  attention  to  is  this,  that 
English  products  are  virtually  excluded  from  all  foreign  countries 
by  high  fiscal  duties,  especially  so  in  America,  and  those  who  go  to 
the  exhibition  in  Philadelphia  ought  to  remember  that  England 
admits  all  the  manufactures  of  America  absolutely  free,  but  that 
America  refuses  to  receive  the  productions  of  England  only  at 


THE   PERIL   OF   FREE-TRADE   ENGLAND. 


29 


duties  almost  prohibitory;  and  so  Joug  as  this  one-sided  system  of 
commerce  exists  England  and  English  interests  must  continue  to 
suffer.  It  appears  tc^  me  to  be  very  absurd  to  suppose  that,  in  these 
days  of  individual  competition,  English  statesmen  can  really  expect 
Joreign  governments  to  expose  their  people  to  the  competition  of 
Enghshmen;  they  never  will  do  it.  Why,  sir,  if  America  admitted 
the  free  importation  of  British  goods,  that  country  would  he  imme- 
diately inundated  with  such  a  vast  quantity  of  all  classes  of  manufac- 
tures that  its  own  people  would  stand  no  chance,  and  hence  it  is  it 
imposes  such  heavy  duties. 

That  there  should  be  found  in  England  a  class  of  statesmen, 
\«hether  Liberals  or  Tories,  %oho  still  persist  in  compelling  their 
countrymen  to  submit  to  such  a  one-sided  commercial  system  is  a 
marvel.     Can  it  be  possible  that  English  statesmen  are  altogether 
Ignorant  o^the  sure  and  rapid  destruction  of  British  trade  under  the 
adverse  foreign  fiscal  duties  imposed  upon  it?     Can  it  be  possible 
that  they  are  blind  to  the  coming  struggle  among  the  producing 
class  ?     Can  it  be  possible  that  they  will  look  with  indifference  upon 
the  suffering  hosts  of  people  are  now  enduring,  and  will  have  to 
endure,  by  the  loss  of  their  occupation  ?     Sir,  you,  as  the  ackuowl 
edged  leader  of  the  press,  ought  at  least  to  permit  the  free  discussion 
of  this  one-sided  commercial  policy,  even  if  you  do  not  help  it  by 
your  own  powerful  influence.     Can  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  really  understand  the  vast  national  importance  of  the  trade 
he  is  supposed  to  preside  over  ?     Does  he  know  chat  the  products  of 
England  are  shut  out  of  America  by  impossible  duties?    There  is 
at  present  a  great  effort  being  made  to  introduce  American  watches 
mto  England.     How  are  we  treated  by  America  in  this  particular 
article  ?     If  an  English  watch,  made  in  London  at  a  cost  of  £10,  is 
sent  to  America,  a  duty  of  25  per  cent.— that  is  in  cash  £2  10s.'-- 
would  be  charged  upon  it,  but  England  receives  American  watches 
free,  and  hence  it  is  they  advertise  and  push  this  particular  trade, 
and  thus  injure  the  business  formerly  done  by  the  watch-making 
industry  of  England?     Can  the  Right  Hon.  President  be  alive  to 
this  great  abuse?     Can  he,  as  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
understand  the  vast  importance  of  this  national  sacrifice,  not  in  one 
article,  but  in  everything  we  make  ?     Our  manufacturers  and  ivork- 
men  are  thrust  out  by  the  importation  of  foreign  goods  dutyfree,  and 
are  shut  out  of  all  foreign  markets  by  the  imposition  of  prohibitory 
import  duties,  a  position  too  ridiculous  to  last  with  a  generally 
dtclining  commerce,  and  too  ruinous  to  endiir&hy  those  who  live  by 
the  labor  of  their  hands.  Hyde 


30        THE  LOSS   IN   TRANSPORTATION — THE   FRENCH   TARIFF. 


The  Loss  in  Transportation. — As  an  individnal  instance  of 
the  wasteful  sort  of  transportation  may  be  mentioned  the  case  of  a 
Wisconsin  farmer  who,  in  the  year  1865,  bought  in  Philadelphia  a 
fine  overcoat  of  French  cloth  for  $100,  and  on  paying  for  it  remarked 
that  this  coat  cost  him  just  1,000  bushels  of  corn,  since  he  had  lately 
sold  that  quantity  at  home  for  ten  cents  per  bushel.  Now  the  ex- 
penditure of  natural  forces  and  of  human  labor  in  producing  the 
1,000  bushels  of  corn  doubtless  exceeded  that  of  producing  the  over- 
coat ten  or  twenty  fold,  and,  if  the  two  articles  had  been  produced 
side  by  side,  50  or  100  bushels  of  corn  would  have  paid  for  the  coat; 
but  as  it  was,  excepting  some  profit  of  middlemen,  all  the  remaining 
900  or  950  bushels  of  corn  were  lost  in  the  mere  transportation  df 
corn  from  Wisconsin  to  France,  and  of  a  coat  from  France  to  Phil- 
adelphia, and  were  lost  by  the  firmer ;  for  he  who  seeks  a  market 
must  bear  all  the  cost  of  carriage  thither,  and  he  who  wants  goods 
must  pay  for  their  carriage  also. 

Of  this  unreasonable  and  unstable  nature  is  a  large  part  of  Eng- 
land's great  traflSc.  She  holds  producer  and  consumer  artificially 
asunder,  inserting  between  them  her  credits  and  her  factories,  and 
imposes  upon  the  nations  who  deal  with  her  the  cost  of  maintaining 
her  enormous  fleets  of  merchantmen  and  war  vessels,  her  swarms  of 
merchants,  bankers,  middlemen,  and  agents,  and  her  multitudes  of 
luxurious  idlers. — Joseph  Wharton. 


The  French  Tariff — How  it  Works. — Those  who  believe  the 
invectives  which  represent  our  tariff  as  uuequaled  in  its  enormity 
may  be  instructed  by  the  following  incident: — Late  in  the  year 
1873,  I  sent  to  Paris  a  small  invoice  of  Nickel-Ammonia  Sulphate. 
Shortly  after,  I  heard  that  my  customer  had  died,  that  the  goods  had 
been  seized  by  the  French  government  for  violation  of  the  customs 
laws,  and  that  a  fine  of  six  hundred  francs  was  levied  upon  the 
consignee,  simply  because  that  substance  was  not  named  in  the 
French  law ;  it  was  therefore  not  only  prohibited  but  was  confis- 
cated. My  application  to  be  allowed  to  take  back  the  goods  was 
refused  except  on  condition  of  first  paying  a  duty  of  thirty-six  per 
cent.  Finally,  as  a  favor,  the  goods  were  surrendered  to  me  for 
sale  in  France  on  my  paying,  in  addition  to  thirty-six  per  cent, 
duty,  a  fine  of  four  hundred  francs.  France  thus  prohibits  the 
entry  of  goods,  no  matter  how  innocent  and  useful,  which  her  laws 
do  not  explicitly  name  as  admissible,  and  punishes  by  confiscation 
the  shipper  and  by  fine  the  receiver  of  such  goods. — Joseph  Wharton. 


WHAT   FREE   TRADE   WOULD   PRODUCE. 


31 


What  Free  Trade  would  Produce.— Free  trade  has  but  one 
sole  object,  and  that  is  to  allow  foreign  manufacturers  to  compete 
on  equal  terms  with  American  manufacturers  in  American  markets. 
This  involves  the  raising  by  direct  taxation  of  flie  national  revenue 
that  is  now  raised  by  duties  on  imports,  and  an  equalization  of  the 
price  of  labor  in  this  country  and  Europe.     Even  with  the  ap- 
parently reliable  start  our  iron,  cotton,  and  woolen  industries  have 
at  the  present  time,  it  is  doubtful  whether,  under  a  reign  of  free 
trade,  they  would  contest  the  field  with  the  foreign  manufacturers. 
The  two  items  of  labor  and  capital,  that  constitute  the  great  pro- 
portion of  cost  in  manufactures,  will  not  come  down  to  the  European 
standard.     There  is  that  difference  between  an  old,  thickly-settled, 
and  circumscribed  State,  and  a  new,  sparsely  inhabited,  and  broadly 
extended  country,  where  every  man  may  become  a  landholder  and 
tiller  of  the  soil  whenever  he  chooses  or  necessity  compels.     In 
Europe  capital  is  worth  one  to  two  j)er  cent,  per  annum ;  in  this 
country  it  is  worth  ten  to  twelve  per  cent,  per  annum.     The  British 
manufacturer,  if  he  found  it  necessary  to  flood  the  American  market 
for  one,  two,  or  three  years  without  profit,  for  the  purpose  of  crip-, 
piing  the  American  manufacturers  and  compelling  them  to  suspend 
operations,  could  do  it  at  half  or  one-third  the  expense  the  latter 
could  carry  their  stock  even  one  year.     With  the  American  indus- 
tries shut  up  and  destroyed,  the  foreign  manufacturer  could  do 
again,  as  he  has  frequently  done  before,  charge  such  a  price  as 
would  fully  indemnify  him  for  previous  concessions.     All  this  would 
involve  the  bankruptcy  and  ruin  ul  thousands  of  mechanics,  arti- 
sans, and  others  who  have  invested  their  all  in  these  industries, 
under  the  implied  guarantee  that  the  policy  of 'the  government 
would  not  be  changed  for  some  years  to  come,  at  least.— Chicago 
Western  Manufacturer. 


In  April  last  the  price  of  quinine  in  England  was  seven  shillings 
and  two  pence  an  ounce.  At  that  time  the  American  manufac- 
turers of  this  article  were  able  to  supply  the  home  demand.  To-day, 
however,  the  home  supply  scarcely  equals  the  home  demand,  and 
orders  for  English  quinine  are  going  abroad.  The  result  is  that  the 
Englishman  has  raised  his  price  from  seven  shillings  and  two  pence 
an  ounce  to  eight  shillings  and  six  pence  and  nine  shillings  and 
three  pence.  If  there  were  a  scarcity  of  home-made  iron  in  this 
country,  how  soon  would  the  prices  of  English  iron  advance! 


32 


THE  QUESTION   OF   PATRIOTISM. 


The  Question  op  Patriotism.— The  old-fashioned  way  of 
gaining  population  from  a  neighboring  country  by  invading  it  and 
carrying  off  its  inhabitants  as  slaves  is  no  longer  practiced  by  civi- 
lized nations,  and  the  acquisition  of  territory  by  similar  means  is 
perhaps  not  so  frequent  as  it  once  was,  but  the  newer  style  of 
aggrandizement  by  winning  the  wealth  of  a  neighbor  through  iu- 
duetrial  assaults  and  trade  invasions  is  now  in  the  fullest  activity. 

In  this  modern  and  highly  civilized  style  of  warfare,  improved 
machinery  takes  the  place  of  improved  artillery ;  the  enemy's  forces 
— his  industrial  population— are  driven  from  their  guns  by  missiles 
of  textiles  and  metal  wares,  and  are  destroyed  in  their  homes  by 
starvation  rather  than  by  bullets  in  the  field. 

It  is  clear  that  the  patriotism  which  can  sleep  through  this  indus- 
trial warfare  and  suffer  this  trade  spoliation,  and  can  only  be  roused 
into  activity  by  the  danger  and  passion  of  flagrant  war ;  which  can 
vote  the  public  money  to  maintain  rarely  used  armies,  navies,  and 
forts,  but  can  not  give  the  slightest  aid  or  comfort  to  the  real  and 
constant  defenders  of  its  country's  independence— its  industrial 
soldiers— is  a  patriotism  belonging  to  periods  long  gone  by,  and  is 
of  little  more  present  use  than  a  bow  and  arrow.  The  spirit  of 
loyalty  is  forever  the  same,  but  it  must  now  learn  to  promote  its 
country's  welfare  by  the  arts  of  peace,  pursuing  its  ancient  and 
honorable  aim  by  the  new  methods. — Joseph  Wharton. 


What  a  German  Commissioner  to  our  International 
Exhibition  says.— Professor  iteuleaux,  the  head  of  the  German 
Commission  at  ihe  Phiiad  "  "^  hibition,  has  published  a  state- 
ment in  which  he  declares  ti  -ccellence  and  the  cheapness  of 
American  manufactured  goodt  .  >  to  the  protective  policy. 
He  says :  "  Let  not  Germans  wol  ..v..'  at  this  ;  for  we  also  in  former 
days  utilized  the  system  of  protection  with  the  greatest  success." 
And  he  adds  statistical  evidence  to  prove  that  the  United  States  is 
prospering  under  protection,  notwithstanding  the  panic,  while  Ger- 
man^ industries  are  suffering  because  of  the  partial  withdrawal  of 
protection.  No  stronger  tribute  to  the  value  of  our  protective  policv 
has  yet  appeared  than  the  elaborate  statement  of  this  eminent  Ger- 
man protectionist. 


